Oikos Drafts a Win at Kroger

White Plains, N.Y. — Danone North America activated its sponsorship of the National Football League Draft with an Oikos “Flavor Draft” sweepstakes at Kroger. “The brand performs very well at Kroger,” says Danone North America shopper marketing manager Tony Fung. “Kroger asked us to provide something exclusive and engaging to the Kroger shopper. We wanted to make sure it aligned with the customer expectations.”Oikos conducted consumer research to come up with three Oikos Triple Zero flavors meant to appeal to Millennials and embody Kroger’s focus on innovation. Single-serve yogurt SKUs in pineapple, pomegranate and cookies & cream flavors were exclusively sold at Kroger stores from Feb. 19 to March 21, and consumers could pick their favorite via text message or online at OikosFlavorDraft.com to enter a sweeps awarding a trip to Arlington, Texas, in April to attend the second round of the NFL Draft. Two hundred runners-up received a $50 NFL Shop gift card.Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based Realtime Media administered the sweeps; Snipp Interactive, Toronto, handled the microsite and user experience (e.g., text); and Geometry Global, New York, developed the creative.“I wanted to have an exclusive flavor that nobody has,” Kroger yogurt category manager Tom Crowder says. “The Flavor Draft concept seemed like a great fit.”Kroger provided Oikos with loyalty data from its insights subsidiary 84.51, and the brand used the data to develop a targeted advertising program. “This was a huge win for us, getting this kind of consumer sweepstakes and [Kroger] letting us leverage 84.51 data to target shoppers with media,” Fung says. “We really leveraged the data and talked to the people who actually are buying and are loyal to Oikos.”Oikos worked with Hubbard Broadcasting’s WKRQ in Cincinnati for a mix of radio spots, digital ads on the station’s website and social media updates that resulted in 670,442 impressions. The brand also placed a full-page ad promoting the sweeps in Cincinnati Magazine, reaching a circulation of 4,500 people, and enlisted social media influencers to further spread the word. Floor clings from News America Marketing’s SmartSource promoted the effort in stores, with outdoor billboards also supporting. Additionally, 84.51’s Kroger Precision Marketing placed digital ads on various websites, reaching approximately 900,000 households and delivering about 10 million impressions.“If I had not used the 84.51 data, being able to target people who were shopping at Kroger, there would have been more national media,” Fung says. “Because it was more targeted and aligned with Kroger’s strategy, it made it very successful.”The sweeps received 74,184 entries, exceeding expectations and corresponding with a 3.2% lift in sales penetration for the brand. The winning flavor, pineapple, was announced at the NFL Draft and hit Kroger stores in mid-April with supporting signage and media buys. The flavor remained exclusive until July, after which Oikos began national distribution.“The biggest thing I learned from this is that collaboration between the customer team and marketing team was key,” Fung says. “We were able to get everyone aligned and excited because this was exclusive to Kroger.”“The Flavor Draft campaign was a true collaboration across merchandising, marketing, 84.51 and our partner, Danone,” says Lisa Allison, senior marketing coordinator, Kroger.This was the largest campaign Oikos has ever run at Kroger, but the brand is already in talks to run a second voting-based effort for the NFL Draft next year. The 2019 program will likely also include Kroger’s Roundy’s chain, which the retailer has been working on bringing into alignment with the promotional calendar at its other banners.“Having that one SKU across all banners will drive incremental sales,” Fung says.

Oikos Drafts a Win at Kroger

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