Zooca®, the Norwegian-based company and pioneers of the nutritious zooplankton in the Arctic Ocean (Calanus finmarchicus), partnered with us at Smartcore to elevate their brand and product awareness for their presence at Vitafoods Europe 2024.
In their success story, Thomas Mogan, International Account Director, Zooca, discusses their campaign goals, strategy, and outcomes.
“Our company is the only one in the world harvesting Calanus finmarchicus, the tiny but mighty crustacean found outside the northern part of Norway. Being the only company doing something with the largest renewable and harvestable marine natural resource in the Norwegian Sea is challenging. We’re used to people saying, ‘Can you please tell me more about it because I haven’t heard of you’.
“So, for us, it was all about increasing awareness about our innovative company and unique products and engaging with relevant potential customers for Zooca®. When you are the only company in the world doing something, you must use some effort to get better known. And this was specifically tied to our presence at Vitafoods Europe 2024.”
“It was a mix of targeted advertising, sponsored content, and custom emails to a target group of people that we selected with the help of your Data Card.”
“When you have different digital products working in combination with each other in the same campaign, a person who sees your advertising twice or thrice will be able to better pick up your message. We explored the available Event Packages and found a good solution for us. It was a mix of targeted advertising, sponsored content, and custom emails to a target group of people that we selected with the help of your Data Card. It allowed us to target a defined audience based on our preferences, where we could select from specific companies, markets, and roles, and only from among people visiting Vitafoods Europe.
“We promoted our Sponsored Article that was published on Vitafoods Insights, in the Vitafoods Insights newsletter around seven weeks before the event. Then we sent a Custom Branded Email to a highly targeted audience, sharing more news about our Zooca® Calanus® Oil. And lastly, we ran a month-long Targeted Ads campaign in the month before Vitafoods Europe. It’s helped us increase brand awareness, share our news, and expand our reach.
“We looked at it as a return-on-investment solution, and from the feedback we received afterwards on the number of emails sent out, how many were opened, etc. It’s also good for us to be able to quantify and look at the results to see what we think about this.”
“Given the number of relevant subscribers to the Vitafoods Insights newsletter – over 26,000 – and the fact that many event attendees are readers who have this as one of their main sources of information in the nutraceuticals area, it was a natural choice for us.
“We were trying to target the right audience attending the event, and we liked that we could select our desired target group from the different markets, companies, and roles of the people attending Vitafoods Europe through the Data card. We thought this was good and were confident that we were reaching the right audience.”
26,141
Total Sent
69
Total Opened 17,16%
Total Open Rate
69
Total Clicks on your sponsored banner/article
674
Total Clicks
“We believe that it had an impact on the number of visitors to our stand, and additionally, on the relevance and quality of the visitor group. Previously, we have had people showing up and saying, ‘Can you tell me a little about yourselves?’ In comparison, this time we experienced more people saying, ‘I have been searching for your booth!’” 84
2,000
“Targeted Ads are important because you know you are connecting with the right people.”
“Targeted Ads allowed us to reach our target audience through display banners that shared details about us and encouraged viewers to download our whitepapers as they moved around the web.
“We had an evaluation meeting about a week after the event. Before you run your ads, you’re not quite certain how they would perform. But then, when we met people at Vitafoods Europe and heard their feedback, it all came together. Targeted Ads are important because you know you are connecting with the right people.”
50,064 Total Impressions Delivered
110 Total Clicks 0.22% Click Through Rate (CTR)
“Vitafoods Europe is one of the key events of the year for us and that’s why it made sense to target that specific group of event attendees.”
“Vitafoods Europe is a very important event for our company, and we have experienced that other companies and potential customers give priority to this event. Many relevant persons find this event to be a good source for new ingredients and potential new business, and for us, it has become one of the most important events of the year.
“Our biggest market today is the USA. We have also attracted great interest in France and the Benelux countries, where we have started to connect with some good partners. Thus, it’s aiming to be at the right place and meet the right people. We see that companies from the US send representatives over to have a look at Vitafoods Europe, and so for us, it’s a place to exhibit and develop good connections. Vitafoods Europe is one of the key events of the year for us and that’s why it made sense to target that specific group of event attendees.”
“We all agreed that for us, this was the best Vitafoods Europe ever.”
“I think that it increased awareness about Zooca® – The Calanus® Company as the sole provider of a brand-new ingredient and product range not known to most people. More people were coming to our booth, and they had knowledge about our company or products before they arrived.
“Last year, we had people walking past, browsing, and saying, ‘Can you please tell me about this?’, or we had to stop them and say, ‘Have you heard about this?’. This year we experienced less of this and more of people saying, ‘Oh, I’ve been looking for you’. It was us saying, ‘Could you please wait a minute, I’ll just finish with this person’. That’s a good thing.
“We had a super busy event, and we believe it has to do with the pre-event information we shared. So yes, it goes hand in hand—if we’ve done some pre-event marketing and awareness work, then hopefully, we will reap the benefits of that afterwards. And we all agreed that for us, this was the best Vitafoods Europe ever.”
“The most important benefit is probably the improved number of quality meetings and increased awareness about our offerings before coming to our booth. We experienced that our whole team had to ‘go the extra mile’ because of the high interest.”
“It has been an absolute delight to work with positive and accommodating people in good spirits and eager to help! Your sales team provided exceptional support throughout all our conversations. And after that, your delivery team was indispensable for all the practical help with getting the deliverables done in time and with the quality needed.
“Again beforehand, you don’t really know how well it’s going to work or if it’s going to work. Your delivery team really helped us out with the little things – the attention to detail, level of support received, as well as commitment to ensuring deadlines are met – and this is much appreciated. It was great to have a partner making sure that we’re on the right track, making the right moves, and doing the right things.”
“Given our goal of increasing awareness about our company, products, and exhibiting presence at Vitafoods Europe 2024, it made sense to try out an Event Package...”
“Based on our experience, I recommend them going through the multiple products and packages available with the Smartcore team, focusing on their company needs and available resources. See what works for them, where they are in their life cycle with their products, and what their budget allows.
“For me personally, my experience with your digital marketing solutions began when I attended a webinar organised by your team. I think it was all about ‘webinar marketing in 2024 and how it can help generate leads, brand visibility, and thought leadership for your business’. It shared insights into how a company like ours could use webinars to connect with specific people in say research and development, or in other departments. That prompted us to think about having our own webinar to boost brand awareness. But upon speaking with your team and discussing internally with ours, we decided to look into other possible solutions, and given our goal of increasing awareness about our company, products, and exhibiting presence at Vitafoods Europe 2024, it made more sense to try out an Event Package this year.
“I think that our next campaign will probably be lead generation— but in saying that, we felt that we got a lot of leads out of this as well. So, next year we think we will go through the options again and then decide. Of course, Informa Markets is the biggest provider of these kind of events in the world – you can’t go anywhere without talking to Informa Markets – so it’s also looking into where we feel we get good returns on our investment, and this is it.”
What does your digital marketing strategy look like this year? As the best-in-class B2B food and nutrition marketing solutions partner with unrivalled expertise in your prospects, we can help you reach your buyers and drive business growth. Our smarter digital campaigns are designed to deliver greater returns on your investment and time. Are you ready for real results this year?
