October’s Shopper Solution Of The Month goes to Kellogg’s Special K for its creative approach to increasing sales by creating new consumption opportunities using as a platform a common problem many women face: Weight loss.
The claim of the campaign is as simple as enticing: “Drop a jeans size in two weeks” simply by following Special K‘s dieting plan.
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In 2003, Special K was facing a tricky question: How to increase sales in the breakfast category in which the brand already had acquired a dominant market position and which was considered to be a mature industry?
The solution was to create a second consumption occasion during the day. But how to promote it? Kellogg‘s marketers came up with an ingenious idea: Create a dieting plan which is based on a bowl of Special K‘s cereals for breakfast and another to replace lunch or dinner. Moreover, the campaign is based on an appealing promise: Drop a jeans size in just two weeks!
Along the entire path to purchase, Kellogg’s developed an elaborate communication plan which accompanies shoppers.
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AT HOME
On the brand’s website, users can access abundant information on how to achieve their goal of loosing weight. Users can create their very own dieting plan based on a personal goal. The website also includes a wide range of healthy recipes to facilitate the preparation of a complete dieting plan. Moreover, relaxation and fitness tips are available to stress the importance of a balanced lifestyle.
On Facebook, the brand publishes dates and locations of special events (i.e. marathons). Furthermore, users can access a video series called Tracey’s Journey which accompanies a regular female customer during the Special K Challenge. So far, the fan site received 840,512 likes and the brand recruited nearly 7,500 followers on twitter.
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ON-THE-GO & IN-STORE
Recently, the company also developed an app, My Special K, which allows its users to “design a unique weight management plan, access daily menus, track progress, receive helpful tips, find Challenge-friendly recipes and access Special K’s full suite of products“¹.
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POST-PURCHASE
Back at home, users are encouraged to share their progress and achievements on Facebook thus converting customers into valuable brand ambassadors.
JWT Kuala Lumpur went even a step further. They designed a complete two-week bundle pack containing Special K packages plus a nightshirt with a measuring scale to track success.
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CONCLUSION
Kellogg’s Special K Drop a Jeans Size Challenge became one of the company’s most successful campaigns. Its huge success led the cereal giant to extend its Special K product line to cereal bars, crisps and drinks.
The brand marketers successfully picked one of their customers’ main worries and designed a consistent communication strategy along the entire path to purchase. By leveraging consumer testimonials and by recruiting brand ambassadors via social media, Special K increased awareness and shopper engagement.
The campaign was also awarded a Bronze Effie Award for creating “(…) a brand whose relevance has grown beyond summer and the breakfast occasion and whose global net sales have almost doubled over the past 4 years to $1.5bn” (quote from 2008)².
shoppernewsblog is fascinated by Special K‘s innovative approach to creating new consumption opportunities and the use of social media to facilitate its costumers to solve a concrete problem, namely weight loss. For this reason we decided to award Kellogg’s Special K with the Shopper Solution Of The Month Award.
Thank you Kellogg’s Special K for making loosing weight a little less hideous!
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View all winners per month:
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For more information on Shopper Solutions, please consult our introductory chapter or click on the tag Shopper Solutions.
Find here more innovative shopper marketing campaigns which try to offer a solution to obesity in our modern societies.
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What’s your Shopper Solution Of The Month? Please comment so we can take it into account for future awards.
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For an in-depth analysis of the success story, please have a look at Effie’s Awards evaluation from 2008:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/effie_assets/2008/2857/2008_2857_pdf_1.pdf
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Sources:
¹ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/SpecialKmyPlanApp/prweb8019493.htm
² http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2008/2857
