Silk Soymilk, Kashi Target Offices Via Sampling Effort
Silk Soymilk and Kashi discovered a new spot to get people buzzing about its products—the office.
The two brands teamed up for a recent breakfast promotion targeting office personnel to drive trial of its Silk Soymilk and Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal products. The goal? To find college-educated women ages 25-54 and others who are looking to make healthier food choices.
“The combination of the two let us give a great, tasty safe breakfast experience,” said Jeff Goulait, Silk brand manager.
Brand reps hit about 600 offices in Chicago, Los Angles and New York Feb. 1-March 9 with samples in hand. Reps surprised employees of PR firms, ad agencies, travel companies, law offices and service providers, among others, with free breakfast.
During the each event, reps handed out informational booklets about healthy lifestyles from Kashi and $1 coupons off a half-gallon of Silk Soymilk. In all, the agency distributed 250,000 samples of the product and 250,000 packets of Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal.
“With this promotion, it didn’t make sense to go to a generic population,” said Patrick West, vice president of experiential marketing for Zoom Media, the New York City-based agency that handled the program. “So we ran the brands’ needs versus the data we had and offices popped up as a great match.”
The sampling event gave Silk, a WhiteWave Foods brand, and Kashi a forum to reach consumers “in a meaningful way and give them something unexpected,” Goulait said.
“When we do sampling, it is done at a relevant time and place,” he added. “So, when people go and try it, we want to provide a simple and easy way to adopted the product into their lifestyle.”
On its Web site, Silk is offering $3 coupons off Soymilk products. Consumers register on the site for the offer and can opt in to receive additional promotions from the company or from its parent WhiteWave Foods.
