Campbell 'Kicks Up' Partnership with Albertsons

Camden, N.J. — Campbell Soup Co. partnered with Albertsons in October 2015 for a campaign aimed at current Pace salsa buyers that would “kick up the flavor” of meals. According to Christian Ardito, senior marketing manager at Campbell, the campaign was initially conceived after internal research identified a big growth opportunity for Pace: the potential to increase usage occasions among current medium to heavy users of the brand.To reach them, Campbell envisioned a campaign focused on the versatility of Pace salsa by highlighting new and different recipes as well as diverse usage occasions that included breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Using shopper data, Campbell identified the best geographies and stores that could reach this target audience. Albertsons emerged as a key customer based on the number of best stores and the geographies in which they were located.When Campbell approached Albertsons with the initial engagement plan, the retailer offered to collaborate more closely in developing the campaign. “It was the first time, at a large scale, that we collaborated at that level with a retailer – where the retailer is actually developing and managing the implementation of the project,” Ardito says.The multipronged campaign was deployed during Albertsons’ largest co-op event, its annual “Stock Up Sale” that ran from the end of September through mid-October. This timing made for great synergy with Pace’s traditionally strong September sales.To reach existing Pace enthusiasts effectively, the campaign emphasized social media channels where recipes are particularly popular, such as Pinterest. The campaign also included targeted Facebook ads, banner ads and mobile ads as well as landing pages across Albertsons websites. Campbell additionally took over an issue of Albertsons’ “The Dish” recipe email to feature salsa-dependent recipes such as “Terrific Tacos,” “Picante Chicken Enchiladas” and “Spicy Grilled Quesadillas.” Albertsons bloggers separately shared these and other recipes, as well as their perspectives on them.The digital activity was supplemented by an in-store promotion offering two jars of 16-ounce Pace salsa or picante sauce for $4, versus regular prices ranging from $2.49 to $3.49. Branded in-store displays also featured recipes, along with a $1 coupon for meat. This coupon was relevant to the Pace recipes featuring protein, while also encouraging cross-shopping behavior as part of Albertsons’ larger co-op event.“I think what was unique about this campaign is that it was marrying a brand shopper marketing campaign with a co-op campaign,” says Sarah Stefaniuk, director of retail strategy for The Mars Agency, which worked on the campaign. “It’s all really well aligned because the co-op sale is about stocking up and we wanted to amplify that with a message and inspire shoppers by giving them reasons to stock up on Pace.”The close collaboration with Albertsons also enabled Campbell to make greater use of the retailer’s owned media and to focus less on paid and earned media. “It increased the reach of what we were trying to accomplish, while also bringing the cost per thousand down,” Ardito says.Campbell judged the campaign’s success based on marketing objectives such as reach and engagement, as well as on sales results. In total, the campaign delivered more than 9 million impressions and 15,000 shopper engagements across Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Special landing pages on the Albertsons site that included recipes, videos for the recipes and links to additional recipes on CampbellsKitchen.com also saw heavy activity.“What was interesting was that we had a phenomenal number of page views and people viewing the videos,” says Ardito, who notes that the videos got more than 450,000 views and the average lingering time on the landing page was nearly three minutes.Campbell also considered the campaign a success from a sales perspective. “In the best-performing places, we saw increases in sales exceeding 100%, so we basically doubled the volume from pre-promotional drive,” Ardito says.Also partnering on the campaign was Norwalk, Connecticut-based Match Marketing Group, which created the display.

Campbell 'Kicks Up' Partnership with Albertsons

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