The regional press: drives FMCG brand usage

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The regional press drives FMCG brand usage
Client General Mills Jus-Rol Frozen
Pastry Aim Relaunch Jus-Rol following rebranding
and repackaging Drive sales Drive awareness of
POS location Results Local Press Works
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The objective
General Mills is the sixth largest food
company in the world, with an impressive
portfolio of products, including Jus-Rol puff
pastry. Recently rebranded and repackaged,
Jus-Rol tested regional press as part of a mixed
media campaign aimed at relaunching the
product. The test objectives were to support
the relaunch of Jus-Rol frozen pastry, drive
awareness of product location in-store, and
ultimately drive usage.
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The campaign
The campaign ran across two Scottish weekly
titles for a six-week period using full page,
colour ads. Importantly, the local press
advertising helped differentiate the Jus-Rol
brand from competitors, increasing awareness of
product location in-store and driving usage.
The campaign ran across November and December
2005 in the Ayrshire Post Series (Ayr) and the
Falkirk Herald (Falkirk), with Hamilton as the
control site.
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Five big reasons to advertise FMCG goods closer
to home
On average, people are only prepared to travel
3.8 miles to purchase their groceries,
underlining how life in the UK remains very
local. (Consumers Choice V) Local newspapers
are read by 82 of all adults, second only to TV
in terms of media consumed. (the wanted
ads) Nearly a quarter (23) of readers turn to
the food and cooking pages in their local
newspaper. (the wanted ads) Four out of five
local press readers act on the advertising. (the
wanted ads) Over a third of all adults have used
a product or service due to local press
advertising. (the wanted ads)

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Key Learnings
Increased brand awareness The local advertising
activity clearly drove brand awareness of Jus-Rol
as the number one brand in the category within
the test areas post-campaign. This is compared
with Jus-Rols number two position in the control
area post-campaign. Positive product and brand
perceptions Positive attitudes towards Jus-Rol
increased four-fold in Ayr and five-fold in
Falkirk post-campaign, with a significant
increase in those who thought it was the best
bought pastry. Positive perceptions remained
unchanged in the control area. Successful
shift of expected POS location The campaign
effectively heightened awareness of the
anticipated POS location. Over half of all
respondents in the test areas said they would
expect to find Jus-Rol in the freezer
post-campaign, compared with just a third
pre-campaign. Positive advertising
attribution Respondents were positively able to
attribute the advertising message to their local
newspapers. In Ayr, 58 of those who recalled
the advert named the Ayrshire Post Series as
their main source of awareness and in Falkirk,
40 named the Falkirk Herald. Increased
product usage Usage of Jus-Rol increased by an
average of 8.5 in test areas, post-campaign.
This was significantly more than the control
area, where there was no increase in usage.
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The research
The research was conducted by WoodHolmesGroup, an
independent research company, and took place in
Ayr and Falkirk with Hamilton as the control
area. A total of 1,275 face-to-face interviews
were conducted in all three areas, amongst adults
15. All respondents were readers of local press
and cooked food from scratch at least once a
week.
What the client said The results demonstrated
how effective regional press is as a media
channel for driving the awareness of the Jus-Rol
brand. The team recognises that local press
should be given clear consideration at the
strategic planning stage for future media
campaigns. Melanie Rolfe, brand insight
manager, Jus-Rol General Mills
What the NS said Local Press advertising is
relevant and acted upon by an overwhelming
majority of the population. Unlike other
communication channels ad. avoidance is not an
issue and the ads. in local press are positively
welcomed. For FMCG brands it can add significant
value to the communications mix as so well
illustrated by the success of Jus-Rol Robert
Ray, marketing director, the Newspaper Society