SCJ Lifestyle Brands Retail Innovations

SCJ Lifestyle Brands Retail Innovations

THE SITUATION

SC Johnson’s Lifestyle Brands - including method and Mrs Meyer’s Clean Day - are on a mission to expand from “soap” into beauty, personal care and pet care brands that fit into a larger, eco-focused lifestyle.

THE SOLUTION

Our teams collaborated with SCJ’s internal studio team to create a suite of retail solutions that elevate the brand at the point of purchase and position SCJ as a leader to their retail partners across a host of categories, including personal care, dish, laundry, household cleaning and more. In addition to pushing the envelope of what a display can be, the team identified the unique nuances of shopper behavior in key retailers/channels and crafted insights, copy and offers custom-designed for specific consumers at specific stores.

THE RESULTS

SCJ LIfestyle brands continue to see increased display activity and acceptance across key retailers, including in the mass, grocery, beauty, pet and DIY categories.
For the agency, we’ve doubled our creative retainer over the course of the projects, as key brand and commerce stakeholders see the benefits of retailer-first language and executions.

Truly Summer C-Store Conversion Campaign

Truly Summer C-Store Conversion Campaign

THe situation

America was thirsty for Hard Seltzer. TRULY was proven to be a leading brand in the growing category, with huge co-ed popularity.  But there were gains to be made with male drinkers in the C-store Channel where White Claw outpaced Truly with 2 out of every 3 purchases in the category.

THE solution

Go “Flavor Forward”, and help drinkers break the White Claw habit by surrounding competitive White Claw Social Connectors with increased messages around key occasions that positions TRULY flavors as the right choice for connecting with your friends all summer long.

GSTV content drove conversion at the gas pump.

THE RESULTS

·      600mm+ impressions

·      3M+ store visits in the desired C-store channel

·      Creative campaign exceeded benchmarks across measures for lift, click through rate and add to cart

WHAT I LEARNED

  • Working closely with the conversion media team to optimize messages for daypart, consumer and even states of activity was a big unlock for future campaign optimization

  • Maybe we did “too” good a job with flavor-forward messaging – data the following year revealed that some Hard Seltzer drinkers avoid TRULY because of a perception it has too much flavor. Shrug emoji!

Farmer John Flavor Of Family Campaign

Farmer John Flavor Of Family Campaign

The situation

Farmer John is a leading regional pork brand, anchored by strength in the breakfast meat segment. As a family brand that many West Coast consumers grew up with, Farmer John is known for high quality at an affordable price.

But they weren’t activating the full depth of their portfolio - including lunch meats, smoked sausage and hot dogs - that could take on national brands with deep pockets.

We created a ground-up portfolio platform that began with re-establishing their digital and social presence and expanded to the full marketing mix.

THE SOLUTION: FOOD THAT FEELS LIKE HOME!

Convince consumers that Farmer John is the fresh and flavorful meat that helps her bring together the people she cares about the most. It’s the taste that brings family back to the table.

 

Our team developed a new tagline for the brand – The Flavor Of Family – and a year’s worth of multi-media campaigns.

 

A quarter of the way through our plan, the pandemic hit, making the idea of “food”, “family” and “home” all the more relevant. So we pivoted our approaches, and for the summer celebrate families that were “Bacon The Best Of It”, while the holiday’s became all about the long-distance sharing of recipe traditions.

Digital ad units featured split screen creative showcasing generations of family cooking together, apart! All content drove to Farmer John’s website to access recipe content.

THE RESULTS

  • 36.4% increase in unit sales vs year ago with a 1.85:1 ROI

  • Purchase intents grows by 18% YOY across the portfolio

  • Brand consideration grew across the portfolio from 68% to 74% YOY

  • 161 Million total impressions

  • +15 pts purchase intent in additional FJ segments beyond breakfast grew between 13-15%

  • 86% of new buyers are likely to recommend Farmer John

Claritin Clarity Parks Year One

Claritin Clarity Parks Year One

the situation

Lacking any news in the allergy category over the past few years, shoppers tend to make their allergy purchase decisions on auto-pilot – buying the same brand out of habit. Claritin needed to create some excitement to capture shoppers’ attention.

The solution

Get Walmart shoppers to consider Claritin for their spring allergies, by connecting with them in a meaningful and emotional way. We connected Claritin’s brand ethos and Walmart’s support for natural disaster recovery with the park refurbishment needs of several BGCA clubs, and invited Walmart shoppers to help us make a difference.

The program was simple – every purchase of Claritin at Walmart resulted in 50 cents being donated to the Boys and Girls Club of America to aid in local park refurbishment.

THE RESULTS

  • $1.46MM 6-week share growth for Claritin at Walmart

  • 1,844 incremental displays sold in; Walmart stores carrying displays outperformed non-display stores by 6%

  • ·440,000 in-aisle Shopkick engagements – a 4:1 ROI

WHAT I LEARNED

  • Recreational green spaces are often the last priority for recovering communities after a natural disaster.

  • Incremental displays are huge key to driving volume at Walmart (okay, I relearned that one!)

BRISK CHARACTER CREATION & BROADCAST

BRISK CHARACTER CREATION & BROADCAST

The Situation
 

Pepsi Co’s Brisk Iced Tea division targets urban Millennials with offbeat, character-driven marketing that has very little to do with “refreshment” or “flavor”.  The tagline “kinda out there” says it all.

To reach these consumers, Brisk partnered with ESPN to produce a slam dunk basketball tournament/show called City Slam. They even released an exclusive, limited-time only new flavor – Pineapple Passion Fruit – to help promote the City Slam event.

Part of the sponsorship included an ESPN media buy, so Brisk needed a new character developed ASAP to appear in an ad.  There were no “rules”  - Brisk just need something offbeat, and needed it done quickly.

The Solution

Meet John “Piney” Juan, the living, breathing iteration of Brisk’s Pineapple Passion Fruit flavor. Concept, created and shot in an accelerated four week time-period, Piney not only stared in Brisk’s sole broadcast spot for 2015, he even made appearances at the City Slam events themselves, turning what could have been a one-off TV spot character into a branded entertainment experience.


The Results

  • By encouraging the clients to go with a costumed character vs. animation, I was able to create a personality that could appear at live events, generating considerably more attention for Brisk than the paid media alone could have.

  • Media covering the events loved the character, making him a focal point of reports, increasing the Brisk’s exposure and branding at each event. 

What I Learned

  • Do your homework on your idea. I sourced inflatable costume vendors and made some quick phones calls BEFORE I pitched the idea to anyone. That way I could tell them it wasn't just an funny idea - it was as funny idea that could be done on time and in budget. 

  • The air-powered inflatable industry is full of extremely nice people…who are extremely protective of their trade secrets.

  • You can film a spot in a downpour, and still make it look like a sunny day.

  • There are professional inflatable mascot performers, and they’re very good at their job.


SELECT POSITIONING PROCESS & CAMPAIGN

SELECT POSITIONING PROCESS & CAMPAIGN

THE SITUATION

Budweiser Select was a low-calorie, low-carb light beer that launched with a splash during the 2006 Super Bowl. But by 2011, Select’s national profile (and sales) had dimmed considerably for two reasons: 1) media and marketing support had slowed to a trickle and 2) Consumers weren’t clear on what the brand was, as “light beer” messaging had been avoided in the past to differentiate it from Bud Light.

Despite all of this, Select was still extremely popular in pockets of the Midwest, and the brand’s managers wanted to reignite interest in other strong light beer markets.  

THE SOLUTION

Using IMC methodology, I led the brand/agency team effort to developed a new positioning and target market for Select. I eventually developed the chosen new brand essence – “Good Times, Grown Up”. The goal was to strip away the sophomoric and unsophisticated imagery associated with light beer, and present Budweiser Select as a tasteful, refreshing challenger to spirits, wine and craft beer.

Speaking of craft beers – they were starting to really take off at this time. So thecreative spoke to this phenomenon, and I positioned Select as having the taste profile to compliment a night of craft beer drinking. Basically, Select knows it’s not your only beer, but it wants to be your light beer.

The integrated re-launch campaign included pre-roll videos, OOH, radio, print and targeted social media buys. 

 

THE RESULTS

  • In markets with the full media mix, like Dallas, the campaign increased purchase intent by 6 points

  • Overall “favorite brand” status increased by 7 points.

  • “Is A Premium Light Beer” attribute – a key KPI – increased by 13 point

  • Other key KPIs – including “is a brand for someone like me”, is a “high quality brand” and “is in tune with today’s beer drinkers” all improved by 11 points.   

 

WHAT I LEARNED

  • How to utilize and lead an IMC-style Brand Essence process to successful, actionable results.

  • The IMC process involves determining Functional Benefits, Emotional Benefits, Reasons To Believe, Brand Personality Traits, Need States, Values and Demand Segments to ultimately arrive at a Brand Essence.

  • Focus groups can be heavily influenced by the personalities present in the room. 

  • The advantage of not having on-screen talent speak dialogue; by having our talent’s “voice” appear as an inner monologue, we were able to create additional video content in post-production. 


BUD LIGHT NFL INTEGRATED ACTIVATION

BUD LIGHT NFL INTEGRATED ACTIVATION

INTEGRATED NFL ACTIVATION FOR OFFICIAL BEER SPONSOR.

THE SITUATION

Bud Light had just inked a 7-year, 1.2 billion-with-a-“B” dollar deal to become the official beer of the NFL. Our team was asked to launch the official NFL partnership with digital, broadcast and retail promotions.

We needed to take the passion that fans have for the NFL and make it actionable. Make consumers understand that Bud Light gets what is great about football, and that we love it, too!

THE SOLUTION

Integrated season-long campaign touched consumers through Broadcast, social media and retail/bar promotions.

 

  • BROADCAST:
    - “DEAR NFL FOOTBALL” campaign was love letter from Bud Light to then NFL about what makes the game so great for fans.
    - “YOU CALL IT” Sunday Night Football program asked fans to predict the first play of the fourth quarter in order to win amazing NFL prizes, including Super Bowl tickets.
     
  • DIGITAL: “THE HUDDLE” Facebook program  social community for NFL fans to come and discuss their favorite thing – football. We gamefied the process by awarding digital bobble heads, badges and other prizes to heavy users.
     
  • RETAIL: We offered consumers exclusive NFL experiences and trips, offering them access to places money couldn’t buy, like an NFL Fan Camp competition. Plus customized team-color "Fan Cans" for most NFL markets.

THE RESULTS

  • At the conclusion of the campaign, Bud Light brand health peaked at an all time high, a height it has not seen with subsequent changes in creative direction and changing consumers tastes.
  • 60,000 consumers created a Huddle account on Budlight.com
  • More than 500,000 consumers visited the site during the playoff weekends to participate in the You Call It program. 

WHAT I LEARNED 

  • The value of being flexible with your creative vision, and knowing when to cut bait on an idea for something better.  giving up on an idea. The original scripts featured talent giving lines directly to camera over a classic rock-style original power ballad. It was funny! But not right. Even with Michael Bolten doing a voice over.
  • The power of the NFL - consumers routinely crashed the A-B server with during the "You Call It" Sunday Night Football promotion.
  • The importance of collaboration with a sponsor, and getting buy-in early. By showing the NFL representatives that we understood and respected their creative concerns early on, we were able to have a smooth approval process.

 

BAND OF BUDS SOCIAL NETWORK, LIVE EVENT & CAMPAIGN

BAND OF BUDS SOCIAL NETWORK, LIVE EVENT & CAMPAIGN

INTEGRATED PROGRAM FEATURING CUSTOM SOCIAL NETWORK, EXPERIENTIAL TOUR, NATIONAL AD CAMPAIGN AND MORE. 

THE SITUATION

For two decades, the story had been the same – when it came to new drinkers, Budweiser brand awareness was high, but consideration was low. We needed to make new consumers believe that Budweiser was brewed for them and their life.

 

THE SOLUTION

The brief asked for an idea that would appeal to Millennials. The answer was “Band of Buds”, a social media contest that would propel the most interesting groups of friends into a real-life contest that challenged the bonds and definitions of friendship.

The program started online, where people could form “Crews” of friends at BandOfBuds.com and earn points based on digital and real world challenges. Weekly photo challenges predicted the popularity of Instagram by a few years by having teams go document their friendship and daring in return for points.

The Crews with the most points earned invitations to real-life Band of Bud events in their town, where we tested their friendship and rewarded local popularity. One Crew from each live event would make it to the finals in Las Vegas, where they were put through a series weekend-long “Minute To Win It”/Scavenger Hunt-type challenges.

The ultimate winning Crew was rewarded with what we all really want – fame (a spread in Rolling Stone) and fortune ($100,000). 

THE RESULTS

  • 4,000 crews signed up in our 25 participating markets.
  • 14,000 enthusiastic participants generated 130,000 pieces of user generated content.
  • Half a million unique site visits.
  • 230 million impressions.
  • 10,000 Budweiser’s sampled to target demo (many of whom were NOT drinking Budweiser before).

WHAT I LEARNED

  • This program was a massive learning and growing experience.
  • I oversaw the creative direction of the overall program, including social media structure, event run of show, broadcast, print, POS elements and digital marketing. 
  • To facilitate the online portion of the contest, we decided to build a social network from the ground up.  This was a massive learning experience in regards to User Experience and Social Media Monitoring.
  • I also scripted and creative directed the traveling live experiences, including the Newlywed Game-like “Bud Wise Game” played on stage at the live events. It was pretty cool to see it go from idea to execution.
  • I also learned about making the most of an opportunity. The still photo shoot meant to produce print, OOH and POS elements was turned in to an impromptu commercial shoot. Rather than ask for permission, we just sort of shot the models in between set changes and cut a spot together. The client liked it enough that it began to air nationally.

 

BUD LIGHT, THE SUPER BOWL & SHAZAM

BUD LIGHT, THE SUPER BOWL & SHAZAM

INTERACTIVE SUPER BOWL SPOT FEATURES DOWNLOADBLE WORLD PREMIER SONG VIA SHAZAM APP

The Situation

Bud Light wanted to push their latest packaging innovation, a resealable cap, during the Super Bowl. We'd already put together a product-focused spot for an internal sales need, and everyone loved it.  We weren't expecting that sizzle video to turn into Super Bowl spot. Gulp.

The Solution

It’s the Super Bowl - pretty product shots wouldn’t be enough. We brought in Shazam to add an interactive component, and worked with major music labels to source and secure upcoming EDM talent, knowing they would help Bud Light make a connection with the elusive Millennial.

The result was that our spot would not only introduce the world to the Bud Light Cool Twist package, it would also be the world debut of a new radio-friendly single from superstar EDM DJ Afrojack.

A partnership with the Shazam app meant that whenever the spot aired, you could "Shazam" it and download the song for free.

The Results

  • THE GOOD: The EDM community of forward-thinking Millennials embraced the Afrojack connection, helped spread the love on social media before, during and after the broadcast, and Shazamed the spot hundreds of thousands of times.
  • SOME MORE GOOD: Bud Light wanted consumers to know that their new bottle had a resealable top. I'm pretty sure that the 114 million people watching the Super Bowl walked away with that knowledge.
  • STATISTICS! I HAVE STATISTICS! The spot scored a 642 with Ace Metrix - that's 78 points above the norm for all other beer ads! And it got a 161 IPSOS score, which is nuts .
  • THE BAD: I guess America didn't know about that IPSOS score? As far as Super Bowl commercials go, this one was...not particularly well-received by the Super Bowl watching public. WHICH WAS NOT A SURPRISE TO ME.  People are looking for big laughs, epic production value, or emotional connections in a Super Bowl commercial. This was project was a reminder to believe in your gut instincts. Mine said "don't run this during the Super Bowl!" 

What I Learned

  • Best practices for integrating Shazam content into a broadcast spot.
  • That people aren’t looking for a straight product spot during the Super Bowl. No matter how “current” it is. 
  • The nuisances of providing creative direction to a global superstar DJ and his team of producers.
  • The power of EDM twitter.
  • To avoid the comments section of YouTube. Ouch. 

 


BUD 360 APP

BUD 360 APP

The Situation
 

As the title sponsor the #29 car driven by Kevin Harvick, Budweiser was heavily invested in NASCAR. Coed Millennials, Budweiser’s target consumers, were… not. 
So the ask was clear – can you make NASCAR cool?

 

The Solution

Strip away the culture of NASCAR, and show off what makes it so exciting to begin with – the SPEED. Using a breakthrough technology, I figured out how to put consumers inside the #29 Budweiser car in a groundbreaking way that had never been done before.

The Budweiser 360 Experience App put you inside of the Budweiser stock car as it raced along at 200 mph, inches away from the concrete walls of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The revolutionary 360º cameras both inside and outside the car meant that you got to look at any angle you wanted during the ride along. Simply move your phone or iPad to change the view, as if you were moving your head.   

The app was a cross-Continental collaboration between the creative team in St. Louis, the race team in North Carolina, the London-based 360 production team and the developers in The Netherlands.   

The Results

  • Tens of thousands of downloads.

  • An average usage time of over 3:00 minutes for a two+ minute video

  • Over 50 media outlets reported on the app, including the AP, Huffington Post, ESPN, Fox USAToday and more.

  • "Best in Show" Addy, Region 9.

What I Learned

  • If you have an idea, find a way to make it happen! Make phone calls, follow up with busy people, politely harness, and turn that idea into reality. 

  • Taking a chance on new production technologies is a rewarding challenge. Doing something for the first time is worth it. Especially when it turns out exactly like you envisioned!

  • How to schedule meetings across continents. 

  • English people think Mountain Dew is hilarious.

  • It’s nerve wracking to strap a six-figure proprietary camera to the exterior of a car going 200mph, but totally worth it!