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Rachel's - a delicious story of PR driving sales
Background:
Rachel’s, the leading brand of organic yogurts and chilled dairy products, hired Threepipe in 2010. The brief was to create an on-going, proactive campaign to deliver brand and product coverage in consumer lifestyle, national and “foodie” media, to reach an ABC1 35-55 year old, primarily female, audience.
Over 12 months of activity, we delivered 400 pieces of media coverage, which helped Rachel’s to become the fastest growing brand in its category, with 23.8% year-on-year growth and a market share that has risen from 21.9% in 2009 to 30% by early 2011. All of this was achieved by PR and social media, as the lead disciplines, with no above the line activity, and in the face of a massive media spend from main competitors, Yeo Valley.
Objectives:
• Create quality editorial coverage within consumer lifestyle, food and national media
• Maximise consumer awareness of new product development and limited edition flavours
• Communicate the brand’s messages of superior taste and quality
• Improve the brand’s presence within trade media to support the sales process
• Support Rachel’s in achieving overall growth of 10% in 2010
Strategy:
Our strategy was a simple one: to educate media and consumers about the superior taste and quality of Rachel’s products.
Activity:
We put in place an integrated PR and social media campaign to achieve the objectives.
Product PR
• A programme of desk visits to over 50 key media contacts was established, to present new Rachel’s products as they were released. This face to face contact was crucial in building relationships, communicating the key messages and, most importantly, to encourage the journalists to try each delicious new flavour.
Recipes
• To maximise purchase frequency, we wanted Rachel’s to be perceived as a high-quality cooking ingredient, as well as a delicious standalone product. To achieve this, we worked with the in-house team to create a series of seasonal recipes, each including a healthy dollop of Rachel’s yogurt. These recipes were sold into a variety of print media, and video recipes were also produced to be used on the Rachel’s website and Facebook page.
Facebook
• We created and managed the Rachel’s Facebook page, working closely with the client’s marketing agency to plan the content and messaging. By focussing the content on foodie topics, and by offering recipes and rewards as well as product and brand news, we developed a highly-engaged fan community that grew in numbers throughout the year.
Bloggers
• “Foodie” bloggers and highly influential, so we made sure the important ones were educated about the Rachel’s brand, kept up to date with new product developments and asked for their feedback on our recipes.
Partnerships
• An on-pack promotion was developed, giving consumers the opportunity to claim a limited-edition Emma Bridgwater breakfast bowl with awareness driven through PR in national and consumer media.
Product Seeding
• To supplement the media activity, we also initiated a product seeing programme amongst key opinion formers. Free samples were sent to carefully selected celebrities and chefs, who we had identified as most likely to mention Rachel’s as a favourite brand in media interviews and through their social media channels.
Results:
During 2010, we delivered a total of 400 pieces of editorial and blogger coverage:
• 172 in consumer/lifestyle media
• 14 in national media
• 69 in specialist & trade media
• 107 in regional media
• 38 blogs
In total, the media coverage achieved a cumulative reach of over 240m at a cost per thousand of just £0.25.
The Rachel’s Facebook page went from zero to 3,760 likes, grown organically over 6 months, with a highly engaged community registering 131,000 post views and 1,672 post comments.
Outcomes:
In the face of big-spending competition and tough market conditions, 2010 was one of Rachel’s best ever years:
• Fastest-growing established supplier in their category, with 23/8% y-o-y growth
• Share of market increased from 21.9% in 2009 to 30% in early 2011
• £6.25m of value added to the brand in 2010
Andrew Curzon, Marketing Manager at Rachel’s:
‘With no advertising PR was key to the growth of the Rachel’s brand during 2010. The quantity and quality of coverage generated by Threepipe far exceeded anything the brand had achieved previously. In a highly competitive market we were able to significantly increase our market share and 2011 looks like being even more successful’.
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