Background
After a difficult year during which the Thai domestic economy remained
tight, retail sales for the juice category continued to be affected,
with consumers trading down to lower price brands.
While Zenith Media Thailand's client, UNIF Foods, remained committed to
brand advertising, the need to support the brand while finding ways to
be more tactical in driving sales was a specific challenge.
This, in context with increasing competitive spending in the category,
required the agency to seek ways to increase the impact of the media
budget.
The client
UNIF Foods is a major food manufacturer in Thailand. This was a new
client for Zenith, which won the juice products group account in late
1998.
UNIF juices are positioned as a premium juice brand in the market.
Media insights
- An analysis of UNIF's competitors revealed that most followed similar
media strategies, including targeted television branding and tactical
promotions in the press.
- UNIF would not be able to outspend its main competitors in television,
and therefore faced being severely outvoiced in the primary medium.
- The bulk of UNIF juice sales was through supermarkets, heavily skewed
against upmarket locations.
- Evidence through local studies of media vs. sales effectiveness, both
internationally (published studies) and locally (Zenith's own research)
strongly suggested that "recency planning", i.e. planning media as close
to the purchase decision occasion, was the most effective media strategy
for building market share of established brands, particularly among fast
moving consumer products.
This media strategy was introduced to the client and adopted in
television planning.
Use of media
Relevant and humorous UNIF juice executions were utilised on elevator
doors in the carparks going into Top supermarkets, Thailand's No.1
supermarket chain.
This resulted in high impact - UNIF was the first and only advertiser to
use this medium on supermarket elevator doors in Thailand.
It was also highly tactical, reinforcing the brand immediately prior to
the consumer entering the supermarket to shop, supporting the recency
media planning strategy.
In terms of branding, messages were consistent to the brand persona,
while being specifically relevant to the medium.
Finally, the campaign was highly cost effective - the advantage in being
the first to use the medium was that there was no pre-exisiting
ratecard.
Cost was therefore minimal versus the impact of the campaign.
Effectiveness
A survey conducted following the campaign revealed that among women and
housewives who shopped at Top supermarkets, 56 per cent reported seeing
the elevator ads, and 43 per cent could not only recall the advertising
messages, but also the visuals.
* This ongoing National Geographic Showcase series features selected
material from winners and other entries in the Best Use of Media
category in MEDIA's Agency of the Year Awards 1999.
