25/03/14

SoBe V WaterHow Communications Can Help (APSOTW)

The Issue

Sales are stagnant at 2 million units per year. These sales are mostly thanks to distribution, there has been little or no investment in the brand in the UK. Retailers are now putting pressure on the company to invest in a national campaign in order to boost sales. If this investment is not made in the brand and sales do not increase there is a risk of being delisted from the retailers altogether.

In human terms, we need more people to start buying SoBe V Water and the people who are already buying it to consume more of it.

The Insight

The insight here is a rather simple one: it will be easier, given budget restraints, to increase current customer’s consumption of SoBe than to convince non-users to begin purchasing SoBe. Convincing non-users to purchase SoBe represents a change in behaviour, a difficult thing to achieve. Convincing current customers to consume more SoBe represents a situational change, a much easier prospect.

At the risk of sounding cliche, let me remind you of the classic ‘Got Milk’ campaign. I can’t make the case for aiming to change situational rather than behavioural problems any clearer than that.

Got Milk Case Study

The California Milk Processor Board needed to reverse plunging industry sales fast, or its members could literally have lost the farm

Its "Got Milk?" marketing campaign not only helped turn around milk sales but also changed the face of consumer marketing forever.

This impressive turn around was achieved by analysing the current situation of milk sales and the clever insight that it would be more prudent to increase the amount of milk current consumers bought, than to convince non-consumers to purchase milk (this is our situational vs. behavioural which I discussed previously)

It was probably one of the most effective campaigns ever produced

The Idea

The idea is equally as fundamental as the insight: we increase our current customers consumption of SoBe by investing in creating a brand which is in line with our customers values. We must create a brand image that fits perfectly into our customers lifestyle.

Remember the 20/80 rule. Potentially, 80% of all SoBe may be consumed by just 20% of our customers. This is the 20% of SoBe customers that drink it 20 times a year. The same 20% that are noted as ‘being interested in Yoga and Pilates’. This is our core audience, and 80% of them are women.

Justification for The Idea

Based on the fact that two million units are sold per year and that 20% of our customers buy twenty SoBes per year and the remaining 80% buy five SoBes per year, it works out that our core audience of 20% contains 50,000 people. If we can convince this core audience to consume two or three SoBes per week, we increase our yearly sales from two million units to somewhere between six to eight million units per year.

Implementation

Our very specific core audience should allow us plenty of room to implement a multifaceted campaign in addition to a well aimed national. I recommend the following three steps be taken.

Please note these steps are not comprehensive plans, but rather guidelines to be followed by creative, media and other persons involved with the execution of the project.

Number One

A TVC aimed at health conscious women. These women attend one, maybe two, yoga or pilates classes each week. They try to go for a walk or a run whenever their schedule permits. The TVC must communicate how SoBe V Water fits in with this ‘semi-active’ life style and how even when they don’t have time to be active, SoBe will keep them healthy. We present SoBe as a brand with your natural well being at it’s core.

All other communications must fall in line with this ‘your natural well being’ message if we hope to establish a strong brand image. It will be up to creative to develop a powerful advertising idea based around this ‘your natural well being’ philosophy.

Number Two

An OOH print campaign aimed at the same core audience, and perpetuating our ‘your natural well being’ message. Where as the TVC should act almost as an introduction to the brand and it’s values, the OOH print should serve almost as a reminder, or a gentle prompt, to actually purchase the product.

The timing and placement of both the TVC and the OOH print are very important. It is vital that they are in the right place at the right time in order for maximum exposure to our core audience. It is equally vital that the OOH prompt to buy is easily and quickly actionable. Media will be responsible for ensuring these guidelines are adhered to.

Number Three

We engage with our core audience where both they and the brand live: yoga & pilates classes. The idea is simple but effective. Our main objective is to increase the number of times our core audience consumes SoBe V Water, an easy way to this is through a promotion. The promotion we run entails collecting a set number of labels from bottles of SoBe V Water, say five. These labels are then redeemed with a local yoga or pilates instructor in exchange for a free lesson.

The beauty here is that in exchange for participating in the program, in addition to renumeration for the lessons, the instructors are given free SoBe V Water to distribute to their classes for a limited amount of time. This will really reinforce the brand image for our core audience of SoBe fitting in with their life style, while simultaneously encouraging repeat purchases.