3 minute read
Retail Intel: Digital Sampling
from P2PIQ-1021
by ensembleiq
Retail Intel
SmartyPants Uses Digital Sampling to Engage Walmart Shoppers
BY CYNDI LOZA
Unilever’s SmartyPants tapped Tarrytown, New York-based Ripple Street to run a pandemic-friendly, digital sampling program aimed at driving trial and purchase of the brand’s vitamins at Walmart.
Known for its gummy vitamins for children and adults, SmartyPants enlisted the in-home consumer-engagement company earlier this year to distribute 1,000 product packs to shoppers comprising: • Five, two-gummy samples of
SmartyPants women’s multivitamins, each in custom packaging, redeemable for $2 o a SmartyPants purchase at Walmart; • One informational Walmart and
SmartyPants-branded yer, positioning the brand as made with premium nutrients and free of genetically modi ed organisms (GMOs), synthetic colors, arti cial avors and gluten; and • Instructions to guide them through an experiential shopper journey.
For the program, SmartyPants leveraged Ripple Street’s “Chatterbox” sampling solution, which allows brands to send products (“Chat Packs”) to try. The consumers review and share their experiences on social media. About 3,750 consumers — primarily women ages 25-54 who are interested in health and wellness products — applied via RippleStreet.com to receive a Chat Pack during the application process (which ran Jan. 14 through Feb. 4). To apply, consumers were instructed to sign up for emails from the brand, visit their local Walmart store and take a “shel e” with SmartyPants women’s multivitamins, and share content on social media. The 1,000 most engaged and “socially savvy” participants, according to a Ripple Street representative, received a SmartyPants Chat Pack along with instructions to share their samples and coupons, write product reviews and detail their experience via social media. The product trial phase ended on March 3.
The e ort with Ripple Street was part of a larger, 360-degree “New Year, New You” shopper program at Walmart that aimed to drive awareness and sales of SmartyPants SKUs. The New Year, New You campaign included paid search on Walmart. com, on- and o -platform targeted digital media, in uencer and paid social activity, savings incentives and sampling e orts. The goal with the Ripple Street program was to increase social media reach and impressions, generate trials and reviews, and increase purchase intent at Walmart.
Activating Ripple Street’s Chatterbox solution made sense for SmartyPants as sampling is an integral part of the brand’s shopper marketing strategy to drive trial and build brand awareness, says SmartyPants’ Amy Avellar, senior manager, shopper marketing. “We always put an emphasis on trialdriving tactics and measures because we are confident in our product and know that once you try it, you’ll be a repeat customer.”
Considering the lower store foot traffic driven by the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, finding a digital platform that could deliver samples and drive engagement was a key win for SmartyPants, Avellar says. Besides generating trial, the brand also benefited from “other byproducts of the campaign to help drive awareness through the social content that’s garnered, as well as help improve dot-com performance with the reviews that we were also able to capture from the campaign,” she adds.
The program with Ripple Street proved successful, says Avellar, noting that it helped her hit all her important marketing KPIs. The activation generated more than 5,000 trials, 450-plus authentic product reviews, 11,000-plus posts and comments from participants on social media, and increased purchase intent for SmartyPants items at Walmart by 76%. IQ
FOR A HEALTHIER TOMORROW
SmartyPants Multi is designed with the most premium ingredients in their most effective forms to provide you with good health at a great price. All the main nutrients you want to support whole body health.*
