East meets West in the baking aisle
Marsa Kraft Foods, a joint venture between Kraft Foods International and Sabanci Holdings of Turkey, is among the leaders in the margarines, liquid oils and industrial oils category in the Middle East. When the company launched Hüner, the country’s only margarine made especially for baking, in February 2000, it was determined to connect with middle-class housewives and get them to think of Hüner for all their baking needs.
At the time of Hüner’s launch, competing margarine brands were leveraging taste and health as their differentiating attributes. Brand awareness for Hüner was high, but the actual trial rate lagged behind the brand’s original objective. So Marsa Kraft Foods set out to extend the reach of the Hüner name to the entire baking category, including Hüner cocoa, vanilla, baking powder, powdered sugar, cornstarch, wheat starch, wheat flour, rice flour, pudding, gelatin and whipped cream.
Turkish cuisine enjoys the benefits of both western and eastern influences. Most Turkish women are still quite traditional. Given this cultural context, brand managers saw an opportunity to create awareness for the new product line with a promotion that would tie all Hüner products together. Developed by Instanbul-based SPY, the key objectives of the Kitchens With Skill promotion were to source more profits with a more complete product portfolio, while continuing to stimulate trial of Hüner margarine. Capturing consumers’ attention at the point of sale would be crucial to its success.
Kitchens With Skill incorporated a wide range of promotion tactics. In-store samplers invited consumers to taste chocolate pudding, the leading new product, in stores over two weekends in December 2002. Shoppers could sample as many products as they liked since the goal was to get as many people as possible to try the brand’s full range. It worked: nearly 46,000 consumers tried the new product in 13 different grocery chains.
Next, eye-catching POS displays attracted consumers to the baking aisles — prime real estate in a country where merchandising displays typically go behind cashiers at store exits. For the first time, consumers could actually sample a product, then reach for it on the shelf.
Since Turkish consumers — like their American counterparts — tend to appreciate value and respond well to games and contests, the brand created an instant-win offer for shoppers who purchased a Hüner product. All they had to do was spin a wheel. When turned, the promotional displays revealed information about each Hüner product and told consumers if they had won. They also got a Hüner product booklet, with Hüner recipes and entry forms for chances to win a new kitchen by writing down their favorite recipe with at least one Hüner product. (The company will publish a cookbook featuring all the Hüner recipes received.) New product packaging, media and trade incentives supported the promotion.
“We set aggressive objectives and exceeded all expectations,” said Ugur Akansel, marketing chief, Hüner Margarine & New Category Development, Marsa Kraft Foods. In smaller markets, “we ran out of stock within a few days. At the larger accounts, we made a week’s worth of sales in one day.” Best yet, “consumers who tried and purchased Hüner products came back [to buy] more.” The in-store promotion ran in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, in approximately 24 grocery stores per week. Nearly 69,000 consumers participated.
Plans for a combo-pack promotion for chocolate pudding and gelatin are underway. The brand is also working on new P-O-P materials to create an atmosphere of an actual kitchen in the aisles.
“Consumers appreciate free product offers even more when times are tough. This promotion rewarded them with free products and valuable offers at the right time and right place in a very innovative way,” said Akansel. Now that’s sweet.
Amie Smith writes about promotion developed outside the U.S. She can be reached at [email protected]
