A 'thermally-activated' television advertising campaign has contributed to unprecedented sales of leafy prepared salads for Florette this summer.
Whole category sales reached £18.2 million in the first week of July alone with an overall growth of £25 million while an average store sold 100 bags of Florette leafy prepared salads a week.
Leafy prepared salads as a category saw 17 weeks where sales topped £12.5 million. This is compared to 2012 and 2011, where this figure was only reached by eight and four weeks respectively.
Florette rolled out a creative digital strategy this summer through its 'One Minute Wonder' motivational campaign and recipe competition, voted for by members of the company’s Facebook group, and aired on a series of television adverts.It was screened in the summer during prime ‘feel good’ TV shows such as Come Dine With Me, Nigella and Sunday Brunch.
The 'Bags of Feelgood' television campaign series was triggered by a combination of sunshine and temperatures and aired on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The company relied on Met Office forecasts, and had to decide by 11am on Monday whether they would run the advert for the rest of the week.
This was backed up by geo-targeted digital advertising that could be switched on according to weather forecasts in individual regions.
Marketing manager Elaine Smith said that the thermally-activated advertising definitely helped boost sales. “It gave us an opportunity to talk to consumers at the right time,” she said.
“This year we had only one week where the advert didn’t run,” Smith said. She added: “We are waiting for a full evaluation but initial results are looking positive.”
Smith said that digital marketing would remain a strong part of the strategy for 2014. She added that while Facebook is the primary digital platform for the company, they are holding back on Twitter.
The company also highlighted the strength of its 'Crispy' range, including latest addition Peppery Crispy, and said that one in five of the incremental 20 million bags sold across the whole category during the summer months belonged tothe Crispy range.
Prepared salad bowl sales contributed to 66 per cent of the total prepared salad category growth.
Category manager Tony Walsh said that simplified ranges had contributed to this rise and noted that Morrison’s in particular had succeeded with this.He added: “You can’t get away with a token bowl offering. It feels as if consumers have changed their relationship with bowls and they will be expecting much stronger ranges.”
Walsh stressed that one of the most encouraging statistics was a rise in salad sales from lighter shoppers. Florette’s 'One Minute Wonder' campaign targeted its 'acceptor' and 'adorer' customer profiles.
According to research, the 'acceptor' customer tends to buy more wholeheads but Walsh said a combination of clearer ranges, new products and less barriers in layout have encouraged this customer to buy more prepared salads.
Florette has segmented its customer profiles into four groups. Along with 'accepter' and 'adorer', there are also 'selectors' and 'avoiders'.
Managing director Neil Sanderson said: “Bagged salads still have a long way to go, but we have seen a step change this year. I am very positive about future growth.”
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