The past 12 months saw a seismic shift in the way people live, work, and play. For the general public, consumption patterns and habits have changed too, such as buying products in bulk or in higher quantities, but at a reduced frequency.
Some food manufacturers, such as Universal Robina Corp., have been offering variants of their well-loved products that meet prevailing requirements of consumers. As good as these might be, however, it wouldn’t matter if people were not aware of their existence. If the right advertising or marketing strategies did not exist, the manufacturer’s efforts to fill their customers’ needs or desires would have been in vain.
Thankfully, in today’s world, there are many avenues to reach and inform a target audience.
“At URC, we aim to meet consumers where they are,” said URC chief marketing officer Mian David. “And since the people we serve are stuck at home, it made perfect sense to hero our big packs”.
Seeing that many Filipinos are now on Facebook, URC thought it would be the perfect platform to inform the public about its C2 Cool & Clean Litro variant. “Facebook enabled us to offer the right pack, to the right people, at the right time, at the right place, at the right moment,” David said.
Having collaborated with Facebook in the past, URC viewed this as another good opportunity to test new marketing strategies and learn about current or emerging best practices in this field, which Facebook has observed in countries all over the world.
For C2 Litro, URC’s business plan called for a nationwide advertising campaign on Facebook, but it also wanted to strengthen the brand’s performance in key regional areas. To this end, Facebook suggested implanting a pilot project that would give the C2 Litro video ad a nationwide reach over a four-week period. Coupled with this was the use of Facebook’s location targeting, which would also double the frequency of the ad placement in select regional markets.
This strategy has been developed by the Philippines team and has been implemented first by URC. With calculated risks, URC decided to go for it. As a brand, URC has always embraced innovation, and this online campaign also pushed the company further along in its ongoing digital transformation. Thankfully, the gamble paid off.
With insights from Facebook, URC discovered that this nationwide campaign with additional focus on specific regions was a successful and cost-effective way to drive. According to the results of the Brand Lift Study attached to the campaign, there was a 27-percent increase in ad recall in the regional campaign (the areas where ads had increased frequency), versus that of a national-only campaign. Likewise, the regional campaign increased brand familiarity by 2.3 times, and contributed to a 48-percent rise in purchase intent, compared to the national-only campaign.
In the end, the big winners here are URC’s customers, who are now aware that the C2 beverage that they know and love is available to enjoy at home with their families, where it is available, and how they can buy it.
Thanks to the success of the pilot, URC is now the proud subject of a Facebook global case study, demonstrating how brands all over the world stand to benefit from innovative marketing strategies, campaigns, and solutions.
In this trusting, collaborative, and collaborative partnership, it’s clear that everyone wins—URC, Facebook, and, most important of all, the Filipino consumer.