Clorox Offers Rewards to Walmart Shoppers

Oakland, Calif. — Looking to drive sales and grow the laundry additive category at Walmart, The Clorox Co. launched an exclusive “Instant Rewards” program in late 2013 that offered on-pack codes to be entered on a promotional website by registered users, who could then download a variety of digital content.From November 2013 through mid-January 2014, participating SKUs of Clorox Splash-Less and Scented liquid bleach and Clorox 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster had stickers carrying codes to be entered on the promotional website operated by Hip Digital Media, Menlo Park, Calif.Consumers had until the end of March to redeem the codes. They could choose downloadable mobile apps, music, movies, e-books and audiobooks as well as virtual currency to be used for gaming and other online services. Clorox also issued coupons upon code redemption to incentivize repeat purchases.The promotion exemplifies Clorox’s evolution in digital and mobile shopper marketing, says Alice Chen, brand manager, shopper marketing, on the Walmart customer team. Previously, the company has leveraged mobile shopping apps such as Ibotta and Grocery IQ to deliver digital incentives and product information as the shopper compiles her shopping list. Clorox has also used digital at the shelf in the form of augmented reality for a Liquid Plumr advertising campaign.“We know shoppers are integrating technology into their daily lives and are consistently leveraging their mobile devices to make their shopping lists and at-shelf decisions,” says Chen. “Through a variety of digital overlays, we’ve been able to integrate into traditional tactics and provide her with the right information, value message or incentive along her path to purchase.”Among the insights that shaped the Walmart promotion: consumers want instant rewards, 86% of moms now have smartphones, and 44% of them say they use mobile devices to save money. Another factor was that smartphone and tablet adoption is driving up demand for digital content, says Brad Josling, vice president of sales, Hip Digital Media.“Consumers have a high perceived value for this type of content, so when they see it advertised as a reward for purchase, they immediately attach a high value to it,” Josling says. “In a ‘we want it now’ world, digital content is an instant gratification to shoppers.“We are also finding digital content rewards to be a great alternative to couponing. Some of our brand partners are taking a serious look at their long-term strategies and questioning the effect of coupons on overall brand health. Digital content rewards enable brands to drive sales velocity without reducing price point.”Says Chen: “We activated across owned, paid and earned channels for a truly 360 program: Clorox’s e-newsletter, Clorox.com’s ‘offers’ tab, the Clorox Facebook page, Walmart.com banner ads, the ‘Instant Rewards’ microsite, digital coupons and the Crowdtap social advocacy community. The digital campaign was also picked up in several blogs.”Among Clorox’s goal for the campaign, says Chen, was testing and learning about innovative tactics to potentially scale across other Clorox categories. She says the promotion contributed to consecutive months of Clorox liquid bleach share increase at Walmart, and to positive growth for the bleach category and “through the wash” categories while the program was in-market.Clorox’s partners for the program included TPN, Dallas (creative development and campaign management); Coupons.com, Mountain View, Calif. (digital coupons); Triad Retail Media, St. Petersburg, Fla. (banner ads on Walmart.com); and Crowdtap, New York (consumer insights and advocacy).

Clorox Offers Rewards to Walmart Shoppers

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