Photos: Enjoy Life Foods
Enjoy Life connects with consumers ‘one-to-one’
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the bi-monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
Enjoy Life, a Mondelēz-owned brand of allergy-friendly cookies and snacks, has moved decisively toward one-to-one marketing, led by insights obtained from vigorous analysis of consumer data.
The effort extends to influencer marketing with social media mavens and food bloggers, as well as event marketing and sampling programs designed to invite consumers to share personal information and join in the conversation. Trust, the brand has learned, grows best from individual engagement.
“The way that we run our business is we are engaging with consumers all the time,” said Joel Warady, Enjoy Life’s chief sales and marketing officer, in a presentation at Groceryshop. “We don’t believe in using PR firms or ad agencies to talk to our consumers. We do it on a one-to-one basis.”
Mr. Warady said Enjoy Life applies three core principles behind its one-to-one marketing approach:
Good products are not enough. “The reality is that good products are not enough. We see a lot of companies out there that create good products. They grow to around five, seven, ten million dollars in revenue, and then they stop because it’s not enough.”
Think like a publisher. “Whether you are a retailer or whether you’re a brand, you have to think like a publisher. Which means you have to be constantly publishing content.”
Act like a storyteller. “The reality is, you have to tell stories every single day. And we share stories all the time with our consumers.”
In the physical world, Enjoy Life hands out samples and coupons at numerous allergy-friendly events across the country. Last year, the company launched Enjoy Life Land to add an experiential element. Parents are required to share contact data before entry. Mr. Warady said, “To get maybe a few different samples and coupons, they will wait 20 minutes in line to engage with us.”
Enjoy Life believes big food companies and legacy retailers frequently underestimate the threat from empowered consumers. Mr. Warady added, “The fact is, if you’re a brand, the consumer owns your brand. We may think we know what our brand stands for, but the reality is, the brand stands for whatever our consumers say it does.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What advice would have for brands shifting focus from traditional advertising to one-on-one digital marketing? Does a digital-first, one-on-one marketing focus make more sense for younger or niche brands than mainstream franchises?
Poll
BrainTrust
Michael Decker
Vice President, Marketing Strategy
Ben Ball
Senior Vice President, Dechert-Hampe (retired)
The three fundamental mentioned by Enjoy Life’s Mr. Warady:
This is the trifecta of successful brand marketing in today’s digital landscape. He is absolutely correct when he states that ” … the consumer owns your brand.” Being able to continually tell emotional stories and deliver/share those stories across your customer community is the cornerstone of success. These are the only principles that will allow you to reach your customers on a personal level. It is upon these fundamentals that you can build a sustainable “customer for life” strategy. I tip my hat to Enjoy Life — they have a winning strategy.
I agree with the principles laid out in the article — engagement and “stickiness” through content and activities are what drives products to the next level. Where one-on-one marketing makes sense is for products that can be differentiated or that can build a community. Allergy-free snacks is a perfect example. I’m sure it’s possible to run a one-on-one campaign for a products like Chips Ahoy but the expense and effort to build a community or to differentiate a product like that would likely outweigh the benefits.
Digital is much more targeted which makes sense for younger brands. But digital can also drive scale which may be appropriate for mainstream brands. Enjoy Life has learned nothing that we didn’t already know, but perhaps something we forget: Trust grows best from individual engagement and authenticity. And it’s always best to talk with people, not to them.
This is a fascinating look at the inbound (owned and earned digital dialogue) vs. the outbound (paid advertising) marketing question. And I think the best answer is we truly need both.
Outbound, top-of-the-funnel branding is a powerful way for a brand to scale up and introduce itself — broaden its appeal to newer and bigger consumer bases with spot-on creative via traditional broadcast and other media. At the same time, customers expect (DEMAND!) to be engaged and nurtured with personalized digital communications (and special offers).
Yes, young brands need to build their core customer base first with one-to-one digital (because its targeted credible and cheap). But if these newbies want to grow, they also need to reach out and touch lots of people — rather quickly!
Certainly no argument with any of Mr. Warady’s marketing principles. But “one-on-one” marketing needs a “single thing or need” to concentrate on to be enough to carry the primary marketing load. The allergy-specific need and the food based product line is broad enough to make a decent market, yet specific enough that sufferers can be isolated and you know they will be receptive to the message. People with allergies gotta eat too!
We’re seeing a lot of variations on those core principles:
Enjoy Life: Good products are not enough; Think like a publisher; Act like a storyteller.
STORY: Point of view of a magazine; Changes like a gallery; Sells things like a store.
Good product is not enough because good product can sit invisible on store shelves. These days it’s the customer experience that makes product a standout. It’s refreshing to see a company engage one-on-one with consumers, even better to see a company actually utilize the consumer data we hear so much about.
There is absolutely no reason why one-to-one marketing cannot work for big brands just as well as it can for small brands. The technologies available today take the gut feel out of the decision process and are making very tangible positive impacts in the merchants that are employing them.
One-on-one marketing certainly makes sense for more niche brands than legacy ones. The storytelling aspect, plus the ability to connect individually with consumers, is helped by having a very clear, specific benefit of the product or service, along with as little direct competition as possible. Enjoy Life has this with its allergy-free focus. So any brands who want to do this should consider their value-adds beforehand, so they’re sure the benefits are better than the risks.
Any brand that wants to form a lasting relationships with consumers needs to constantly have its finger on consumers’ pulse. There are many ways to engage: social, pop-ups, sampling, share groups, etc.
Leveraging the passion and stories from loyal customers is often more effective than paid advertising because it is authentic. Consumers trust the opinions of consumers more than brand and often seek out feedback and reviews from other consumers. Nearly all brands can benefit from authentic marketing by brand enthusiasts.
While digital mediums are pervasive among younger shoppers, they have become ubiquitous among nearly every demographic, with the exception of some of the very oldest demographics that haven’t embraced technology.
First, I would ask them to make sure their core-consumer is not affected by traditional marketing. Not all brands benefit from digital first. However, if the brand’s core consumer are effectively reached via non-traditional advertising then consider a digital first approach.
Also, keep in mind digital first is not digital only.