Target audience

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice cares for families who have a child with a life shortening condition.  We support these families in many different ways to make their lives just a little bit easier.  This could be by giving them a break as we take the role of carer both in the hospice and in their home, or by providing hydrotherapy or music therapy.  The care team spends time with brothers and sisters to give them the time and attention they deserve and are here for families, supporting them when they have to say goodbye to their child for the last time.

We do everything that we can to create special moments for those families that we care for, precious time that they can spend together and moments they will remember forever.

The charity is currently caring for over 100 children and families, more than double the number we were caring for last year.  Every day we have more families who come to us for help.  We know that there are over 700 local families that might benefit from the support we provide.  We want to be here for all those families that need us and we can only do that with your help.

Each year we need to raise more than £3.2 million, with only 4% of this coming from the government your support is vital.

Does your digital marketing effectively engage your target audiences?Are you wasting time and money by reaching the wrong audience with the wrong message at the

wrong time. This is especially likely when a brand has more than 1 target audience. In this case

study, discover how Asda ensured its message was as effective as possible with useful learning

for companies big and small.

In pre-internet days, I was Head of Advertising & Media at Asda. Our message was aimed at

'working people and their families who demand value'. The Asda Price pocket tap was a very

effective piece of advertising short hand to communicate value.

Communicate to the right audience

At the time, Asda had around 200 stores across GB. Some stores were tiny and were 25 years

old: many were new and huge. Some stores were in poor areas and competed against

discounters like Aldi, Netto & Lidl: others were in affluent areas and competed against Waitrose.

Asda was unique in competing against the full range of stores whereas Sainsbury and Tesco did

not effectively compete against discounters.

So Asda did not have just one target audience: there were multiple target audiences e.g. more

affluent areas preferred higher price wine. In addition to differences of affluence, there were

local, regional and national differences. Welsh people preferred to buy Welsh butter and bara

brith fruit bread; Scots preferred McKewans ale and Scottish cheese; Geordies preferred

Newcastle brown ale.

Following a strategy review, we developed a store based marketing approach with each store's

offer (product range and pricing) based on analysis of the store's customer profile and the

supermarkets in its catchment area.

In addition we analysed every store catchment to identify the customer profiles for each store

and the best local media options e.g. local press titles or local radio stations or door to door

leaflets.

This process enabled to move from one message to multiple messages to multiple target

audiences.

Communicate the right message

Historically, Asda and other supermarkets tended to run a national tv campaign supported by

national press ads. We continued with tv but switched from national press to local media to

enable us to tailor the messages to specific store catchments based on our analysis and insight

to ensure we were communicating to the right people. Each of our target audiences were

significantly more likely to see the most relevant message. By moving from national marketing to

more local marketing we were able to tailor the message at a store specific level based on

customer preferences and the specific competitor set for each store.

So the tv ads set the tone but the local media made the campaign relevant on a more individual

level.

e.g. an affluent shopper in Harrogate deciding whether to shop at Asda or Waitrose would see a

tailored message communicating the Adsa offer in a way that was highly relevant for them.

Whereas just a few miles away, a shopper in a less affluent part of east Leeds deciding on

whether to shop at Asda or Aldi would see a very different message communicating the Asda

offer. Althought both ads were 100% Asda brand and designed to communicate the same

message that 'Asda provides great value to my family', the substantiation in the form of products

and prices featured was designed to be relevant to two quite different audience segments.

Communicate at the right time

We developed a calendar of monthly campaign themes based on what was important in our

customers lives across the year e.g. Christmas, barbecue, back to school.

With over 25,000 products available in the store, naturally every Asda buyer and product supplier

wanted their product(s) featured in the ads due to the significant sales uplift but there was only

space for 4 to 50 products depending on whether the ad was a tv commercial or a door drop

leaflet.

Other supermarkets were less focussed at the time and 'inappropriate' products would often be

advertised because a product supplier was keen to promote their product and may have offered

some promotional support e.g. a buyer might want to feature cornflakes in a barbecue campaign!

We took a different view and put the customer first and would only feature products if they were a

compelling exemplar of that month's campaign theme making sure we were communicating the

most relevant products for that month.

Key learning for companies big and small

Although this example predates the internet, the principles are just as relevant today if you want

to maximise your marketing return on investment and ensure your marketing is as effective as

possible. Our analysis showed that every advertising £ Asda spent delivered more sales that our

competitors.