The Challenge

Ocean Spray is the world’s producer of cranberry related products. Owned by a collective of North American cranberry and grapefruit growers it controls more than 70% of global cranberry crop.

Back in 2001 its main product Cranberry Classic, an ambient cranberry juice drink was under pressure in the UK from both cheaper own-brand rivals and flat sales. The solution was a mix of price promotions and above the line advertising, with the latter budget spent on TV.

The creative execution looked to harness the mystique surrounding the cranberry as a health benefit. It wanted to build up the idea of the berry as a health benefit without overtly factual. Three 20-second ads dramatised failed attempts to establish the special nature of the cranberry before concluding that: 'there’s definitely something in it'.

The TV Solution

The ads were screened on Channel 4, five and satellite channels with key ITV regions such as London, HTV, the South-West and the South and South-East, which indexed highly against Ocean Spray drinkers. Bursts of advertising were used running for nearly two months in Summer 2001. This was backed by more than £1m worth of price promotions.

Buy one, get one free offers and three for two multi-buy offers ran in all grocery retailers before, during and after the advertising period. These were staggered with a typical duration of two to three weeks and TV was never used without price promotions running in at least three major retailer chains.

The Results

The combination proved highly successful. Although the sector was flat Ocean Spray volumes grew by 28% during June and July. Brand share increased from 41% to 45%.

Analysis to separate out the impact of the TV and the promotions revealed that each pound spent on promotions generated a return of £1.18 but when combined with TV ads each £1 spent generated £3.03.

That means that the TV campaign alone achieved a return of £1.85. Further studies tracking purchasing patterns indicated that 607,000 of the 1.8m trialists bought Ocean Spray again. Since only 42% of them had originally purchased the product as a result of a promotion, 58% of the trialists were bought in by factors other than the price promotion.

While the price promotion bought in short-term volume sales, advertising on TV generated a significantly longer-term pay back that was significantly greater, creating a bond with the customer that lead to more repeat purchase at premium prices.