Background

In 2009, Bega was braced for challenging times with volatile commodity prices and increasing competition from a range of competitors including Kraft, who was entering the natural cheese block segment for the first time. Bega therefore needed to build on its brand equity and retain its number one market position, so that price became a secondary buying consideration.

Bega and media agency OMD briefed the team at Seven Media Group (SMG) to develop an extension to the “Real Town, Real Cheese” campaign.

Identifying the Task

The ultimate task was to provide a communications platform that would facilitate a deeper level of engagement between consumers and the Bega brand.

SMG Red’s response needed to meet the following communication objectives:

1. Ultimately encourage consumers to purchase Bega and cement Bega’s position as the number one cheese brand
2. Extend the spirit of Bega into brand activation, by engaging consumers to actively consider Bega being famous for Bega – Real Town Real Cheese.

The Idea

Initial agency research had shown that consumers were prepared to invest in a brand, as long as it meant something. SMG decided to commission local qualitative research to gain a deeper understanding of "the concept of community". What SMG unearthed was that there is personal joy and recognition to be had from the act of joining and co-collaborating. It was this insight that drove the brand activation agenda and all subsequent executions.

The idea was to get consumers to engage with the Bega brand by encouraging them to collaborate with their own communities. A multi-faceted promotional campaign was developed where consumers were asked, “What is your town or suburb famous for?”

The Execution

SMG Red was able to deliver something special which a normal advertising buy would not deliver; an in-program opportunity that allowed Bega to leverage the intrinsic shared values between the Bega brand and the Sunrise program.

Daily in-program content drove huge consumer engagement and participation allowing for recognition of individuals and groups within their town or suburb – and a chance to give something back to the community.

Sunrise called upon viewers each day to nominate their town or suburb, to be in the running to receive $50,000 from Bega and a visit from the Sunrise team. Sunrise Weather presenter Grant Denyer endorsed the campaign and was involved on the ground, providing money-can't buy promotion of local communities around Australia. There were also four runner up places that received a visit from Grant Denyer and the Sunrise Weather team plus $10,000 from Bega.

By harvesting these collective experiences, Bega and SMG empowered their audience to put their town or suburb on the map!

Each SMG asset played a critical role in this campaign. Television was used to generate reach and establish the interactive dialogue with consumers in an entertaining and engaging way. Magazines were used to extend the reach and provide the necessary promotional details. Yahoo!7 created a media campaign across the Yahoo!7 site that was extended through iPrime to ensure the message was also exposed to regional areas. Bega also extended the campaign presence in-store.

The Results

The campaign was a huge success, exceeding all business and communication objectives:

• Bega’s brand awareness hit a four-year high of 61 per cent.
• The campaign drove trial and introduced new consumers to the segment.
• The competition attracted a record number of entries - 60 per cent higher than projected.
• A massive 11,000 people redeemed the promotional offer instore over just two weeks.
• Bega’s volume share exceeded the target, cementing it as the No 1 cheese brand.

Bega's senior brand manager, Allison Freame says, “SMG Red fully met our brief and over-delivered on our campaign. It was important to us to have multiple touch points, ensure trade engagement and ultimately drive sales.”

Client: Bega
Media agency: OMD
Network: Seven Network (SMG Red)


Published February 2011