BelowTheLine recognised on global scale in a new book on best practices in shopper marketing

Auckland agency BelowTheLine has been recognised internationally for best practice in shopper marketing.

The marketing and promotional agency’s “Magic Month” campaign for Fonterra has been selected as one of 31 best-in-class case studies from around the world in a new book.

Published by the Path To Purchase Institute in America, Global Perspectives On Shopper Marketing has just been released on Amazon, with a thousand copies of the book also sent to senior level retail executives around the world.

Click to view – Global Perspectives pg 30-32.pdf

According to the publishers, Global Perspectives resulted from a desire to examine shopper marketing outside of the United States in an effort to identify best practices and how they translate from continent to continent, country to country.

The book highlights the expertise of global manufacturing giants Unilever and Coca Cola and precision activation agency Geometry Global. A total of 31 case studies also cover everything from experiential marketing, to the digital path to purchase, retail messaging and media, from 18 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia, Romania, and BelowTheLine’s contribution from New Zealand.

Says Peter Hoyt, CEO of the Path to Purchase Institute: “Marketers looking for best practices and fresh ideas can often get mired in their own product category, retail channel and especially geographic region. Our goal was to help marketers around the world find inspiration by gaining a global perspective on shopper marketing and learn from the successes of peers outside their markets.”

The featured BelowTheLine Fonterra promotion, “Magic Month”, involved eight different Fonterra brands and a sweepstake linked to supermarket chain Countdown and its Onecard loyalty programme. With a broad array of aspirational prizes to appeal to a wide range of Countdown shoppers, shoppers were encouraged to purchase multiple Fonterra products in order to gain entry.

Lauded for letting the retailer Countdown play the hero and for building a traditional yet engaging win for the entire dairy category, the campaign was Countdown’s most successful Onecard promotion at the time generating 25,000 more entries than the previous best.

For Fonterra, the results also included significant sales growth – at full price, generating positive return on promotional investment.

The key lesson from the campaign according to Global Perspectives: that “retail loyalty programmes in a price driven category can provide a stronger stage for brand building than efforts developed independently”.

BelowTheLine director Christine Abbott says inclusion in the book cements BTL’s position as one of the leading shopper marketing agencies in New Zealand.

Says Abbott: “We might be small and indie but we’re punching above our weight.”