Say Cheese, Year ‘Round: Beating the Seasonal Odds

Posted on by Chief Marketer Staff

Just like actors who get over being identified with an iconic role-think Melissa “Half Pint” Gilbert or Adam “Batman” West-products can also get typecast as “seasonal.”

Alouette, the specialty cheese, is one such product. People get in the habit of adding it to the shopping list when planning holiday parties, but largely forget about it the rest of the year. Alouette even encouraged that behavior by marketing the brand as a cheese for special occasions.

“We took a step back and talked with the consumers and found we were reiterating something they already new,” says Alouette brand manager Jody Hallman. “The relationship was very shallow. We were very much focused on the seasonality of the product line.”

The solution? Run a promotion that offers consumers tips and ideas on ways to use the cheeses year round. Then plan the program to run during warm weather months when sales typically stall.

Enter Circle One Marketing, with a promotional game and a repositioning of the brand. Through Sept. 30, game codes packaged with Alouette’s Spreadables line and Baby Brie Wheels and Wedges will serve two purposes: letting customers enter a sweepstakes and conveying 365 tips for daily use of the brand.

A sample tip: “Start a book club where every month someone not only brings a new book, but also brings a new variety of Alouette for tasting.”

“Summertime is a period when Alouette is looking for some activity,” says Kerry Tolisano, an account director at Circle One Marketing.

Alouette, owned by BC-USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Viroflay, France-based Bongrain S.A., doesn’t have the budget to spend on traditional media, so it put $250,000 against the program “where we can really measure the ROI,” Hallman says.

Promising results came quickly. By July 10, 15,000 entries had been received. Alouette is using the registration data to distinguish those who are buying its cheeses from “sweepstakes junkies” who pulled a free code from the microsite, www.promos.alouettecheese.com, Hallman says.

It will mail its monthly newsletter to non-customers who indicated likely purchase intent and make sure others buying the cheeses are in its database.
As for the contest, each day one entrant will win a $25 electronic Supercertificate from www.GiftCertificates.com. Players are also entered to win an outdoor kitchen inspired by Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

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