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The 'Rocketman' Promo Was A Proactive Sampling Exercise: Narayan Sundararaman

The article summarizes a sales promotion carried out by Mondelez International for their fruit-based powdered drink brand Tang. Called the "rocketman promotion", it involved representatives dressed as rocketmen carrying five-liter plastic canisters filled with ready-to-drink Tang samples. The promotion was designed to provide quick tastes of the drink rather than require preparation. It targeted anyone shopping for cold beverages in modern retail stores over the summer. Partnerships with retailers helped maximize reach across major Indian cities on weekends. The promotion was highly effective, exceeding sampling targets and driving a spike in Tang sales for retail partners.

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Surya Malhotra
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96 views3 pages

The 'Rocketman' Promo Was A Proactive Sampling Exercise: Narayan Sundararaman

The article summarizes a sales promotion carried out by Mondelez International for their fruit-based powdered drink brand Tang. Called the "rocketman promotion", it involved representatives dressed as rocketmen carrying five-liter plastic canisters filled with ready-to-drink Tang samples. The promotion was designed to provide quick tastes of the drink rather than require preparation. It targeted anyone shopping for cold beverages in modern retail stores over the summer. Partnerships with retailers helped maximize reach across major Indian cities on weekends. The promotion was highly effective, exceeding sampling targets and driving a spike in Tang sales for retail partners.

Uploaded by

Surya Malhotra
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Masoom Gupte | Mumbai August 5, 2013 Last Updated at 00:17 IST

The 'rocketman' promo was a proactive sampling exercise: Narayan Sundararaman


Interview with, Category dire tor, beverages ! andy, onsumer insight and strategy, Monde"e# Internationa"
$hat has been the most interesting sa"es promotion you have engineered so %ar& We do use promotions to increase our market share or shore up the month's sales, but not as a core tenet to gro our business! "t the time o# the launch o# a ne product, #or e$ample, the strategic reason o# promotions is to dri%e trials! In the #ood categor& it is especiall& important as the model essentiall& orks along the lines o# high trials #ollo ed b& repeat bu&ing! The sooner the trials, the better &our purchase! "n interesting promotion #or us, then, has been #or our #ruit'based po dered drink brand, Tang! Tang is a #ast gro ing brand but still small #or us! The promotion as dubbed 'rocketman' and as carried out last summer! $ho did you primari"y target with it ' new or e(isting ustomers or both& Last &ear e introduced a thick, pulp& mango %ersion o# Tang, a #irst #or the brand in an& countr&! This summer e rolled out a et sampling initiati%e #or this %ariant! The nature o# the initiati%e ensured that the consumers targeted ere not categorised as e$isting or ne ! It orked across the board! With this promotion, our target customer as an&one ho alked into stores to purchase ' among other things ' cold re#reshment be%erages during the summer season! $hat )ind o% promotion was it& The product categor& in hich Tang operates is such that it is usuall& not particularl& on a shopper's grocer& list hen she enters a store! (ut hat e #ound is that an&one ho tries a glass o# Tang as more likel& to purchase it! The reason e called the promotion the 'rocketman promotion' as because the a& our representati%es ere dressed up #or the initiati%e! The& ere carr&ing on their backs #i%e'litre plastic canisters #illed ith pre'mi$ed, read&'to'drink Tang, read& to drink! This as the #irst time e undertook such a sampling e$ercise #or Tang in the countr&! $hy was it designed so& The idea behind this e$ercise as to gi%e consumers a )uick taste o# the drink rather than depend on them to prepare it a#ter getting hold o# a pack! The 'tanks' ga%e our representati%es mobilit&, rather than ha%e them depend on the consumer #inding her a& to some corner o# the store here the booth is set up! $hat were the ha""enges& We had to make sure that e had the right partnerships ith the trade outlets, especiall& the ke& modern trade pla&ers in order to get the ma$imum return #rom the e$ercise! "lso, as the be%erage had to be prepared inside the store, e had to ensure that #actors like right proportions, temperature, h&giene ere maintained!

$ho partnered you in it& *ur channel partners in modern trade ere retailers like (ig (a+aar, ,&per-it&, Walmart, Spencer's, Tesco and .eliance! The promotion as carried out across metros such as /umbai, 0une, 1elhi, 2olkata, (engaluru and -hennai! *ow e%%e tive was the e(er ise& We mostl& carried out this acti%ation on eekends hen the #oot#alls are higher! *ur partners actuall& came back sa&ing that there as a spike in their sales #or Tang and hence the& ould ask #or repeats o# the acti%ation! 3or 4015, e had set oursel%es a %er& aggressi%e target o# actuall& sampling #i%e lakh consumers and e e$ceeded this b& a long chalk! +on,t sa"es promotions in ur high "ong'term osts %or the ompany& /ore than the costs, as I said be#ore, promotions are no a& to gro a business in the long run! 6speciall& the #ood categor& here the purchase dri%ers are %er& di##erent! 7ou can't sustain gro th in the categor& on the back o# promotions! What &ou can do %ia promotions is increase consumption in the e$treme short'term! Let's take the e$ample o# another categor&, sa& toothpastes! I# &ou are doing a one plus one #ree o##er, &ou are loading the consumer up #or t ice the amount #or a certain period! Whereas she ould normall& takes that time to consume a single tube! What &ou are doing is blocking o## the competition #rom the second month's purchase! That is a great strateg& to take up market share! (ut it is not such a great strateg& #rom the monthl& sales perspecti%e as the sales ill sta& the same the #ollo ing month! I# &ou reall& ant to increase &our sales &ou should probabl& consider a&s o# telling the consumer h& she should brush more o#ten, thereb& increasing the )uantum o# her purchase or gi%e her %ariants o# the same product, sa& one #or regular use, another #or tooth hitening, a third #or sensiti%e teeth and so on! The cost o# a promotion depends on ho eak or strong &our brand o##ering is! I think the issue is that the cost o# a sales promotion can't be borne b& e%er& compan& and at all times o# the &ear! These things cost mone& and i# &ou do it on a continuous basis, then there isn't much le#t #or brand building! It's a trap that &ou can't #all into! -./M 0*1 */.21,2 M/30* 0ang ro )etman Aim 1ri%e trials at the time o# ne 0arget "n&one

launch

ho is in the market #or cold re#reshment be%erages during the summer

4"an The product categor& in hich Tang operates is such that it is usuall& not on a shopper's grocer& list hen she enters a store! We #ound that an&one ho tries a glass o# Tang is likel& to purchase it! So our representati%es ere to carr& on their backs #i%e'litre plastic canisters #illed ith pre'mi$ed, read&'to' drink Tang /ut ome

*ur partners itnessed huge spike in their Tang sales! 3or 4015, e had set oursel%es an aggressi%e target o# actuall& sampling #i%e lakh consumers and e e$ceeded this b& a long chalk

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