Propercorn’s first pop at TV advertising delivered proper good results

Propercorn’s first pop at TV advertising delivered proper good resultsPropercorn set out to put themselves at the heart of shared viewing by investing 100% into Sky Media box sets

Key Points

• National lockdowns meant that Propercorn’s usual recency, point of purchase approach needed to change
• Thinkbox’s ‘The age of Television: the needs that drive us’ research helped Yonder develop a Box Set strategy with Sky Media
• The campaign saw increases in prompted brand awareness, purchase intent, sales and penetration

The Challenge

Launched in 2011, Propercorn are an independent popcorn company, selling a variety of flavours in varying sizes with national and international distribution. In Q1 2020, Yonder Media had planned and were poised to go live with their first campaign for Propercorn, based on a recency strategy to reach office workers grabbing a meal deal or a mid-afternoon snack.Then the Covid crisis hit and the UK was plunged into a national lockdown - nobody working in the office, no £3 meal deals from Boots, nobody popping out for a coffee let alone to grab a bag of popcorn. The strategy had to switch and fast.Literally overnight there was a huge shift in shopping habits - out went single packs in convenience stores and in came increasing demand for sharing packs as part of a weekly shop. So Yonder needed to shift Propercorn’s marketing focus. They could no longer rely on a recency, point of purchase approach supporting single packs - mass penetration was going to be key.Simultaneously, a huge shift in audience behaviour saw shared viewing increase 37% and boxset-binge-watching was up 56% amongst under 35s.

The TV Solution

Historically, Propercorn had believed TV was out of reach for their modest budgets. However, with no prospect of reaching audiences out of home and with a softer TV market driven by increased viewing and reduced advertiser investment, it was the perfect time to explore such an opportunity.The scene was set for Yonder to execute a new strategy for Propercorn; to pivot their plans and embrace those precious moments of togetherness through the most emotively charged medium - TV.As Propercorn had never advertised on TV before, they needed to create a brand new TV ad, which they did by adapting existing assets. Meanwhile, Yonder set out to find the perfect media partner for Propercorn’s first venture into the world of TV advertising.

The Plan

Armed with the knowledge of increased box set viewing and using the Thinkbox ‘The Age of Television: the need states that drive us’ research, Yonder planned to place Propercorn at the heart of cosy comfort viewing such as blockbuster movies and the most talked about dramas which were critical for escapism during the deepest lulls of lockdown. They opted to invest their total budget with one key partner, Sky Media and advertised wholly in box sets to reach younger viewers and people watching together. The strategy cemented Propercorn as a key ingredient in the recipe for a good night in. The 100% boxsets strategy saw Propercorn appear in global hits such as Succession, Chernobyl, and the epic Game of Thrones (which is still in Sky’s top ten most downloaded shows). In social media, Yonder tapped into the second-screen effect with the use of Twitter’s TV-targeting feature; together with Facebook and Instagram ads to surround online socialising.

Results

• Prompted brand awareness increased by a whopping 65%
• Familiarity and purchase intent both increased by 11%
• Sales of sharing bags went up by 28%, while multipack sales went up by 25% - double the category growth (14%)
• Penetration went up by 19% for in-store grocery sales, and a massive 29% for online grocery.

Databank:

Sector: FMCG / Ecommerce

Brand: Propercorn

Campaign objectives: To raise awareness & drive sales

Target Audience: 16 to 34 year old adults

Budget: Less than £500k

Campaign Dates: The campaign ran from 4th June to 12th July 2020

TV Usage: 20” spot campaign

Creative Agency: U-Dox

Media Agency:  Yonder Media