Cow & Gate: GROWING UP MILK

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Integrated Campaign Led by PR

Advertiser: COW & GATE

Product/Service: FORTIFIED MILK DRINK

Agency: FRANK PR

Media placement: Digital PR - Www.facebook.com - August 2011

Media placement: Online Facility - Www.growingupmilkinfo.com - August 2011

Media placement: Digital PR - Www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx7gUu1-FX4 - August 2011

Media placement: PPC - Www.google.com, Www.askjeeves.com, Www.tesco.com/babyclub - August 2011

Media placement: Consumer PR - Metro, Lorraine, Daily Record, BBC Radio, Itv Yorkshire, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph - August 2011

Media placement: Consumer PR - BBC Radio Scotland, Western Daily Press, Jack FM Radio, Www.express.co.uk, Www.candis.co.uk - December 2011

Media placement: Consumer PR - The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Www.bbc.com/news, Www.parentdish.co.uk - January 2012

Media placement: Advertorials - Tesco Toddler Magazine. Www.gurgle.co.uk, Www.babyworld.co.uk, Www.femalefirst.co.uk - December 2011



Summary of the Campaign

The campaign is for Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk, a fortified milk drink enriched with key nutrients that toddlers aged 1-to-3 years need to support their growth and development. Cow & Gate is the leading brand in this emergent category.



In December 2010, the category, whilst commercially successful, had relatively low awareness levels and saliency - receiving only 8 online mentions per quarter, 75% of which were negative or neutral.



Generic Google searches delivered out-of-date, badly-informed, and often scathing forum threads from mothers dubious of the product’s benefits. The task was clear: increase mums’ understanding of the whole category. Our brief was to generate more conversation, more often, more positively about the category.



We devised a 3-phase strategy across paid, owned, and earned media:

1. Neutralise incorrect information;

2. Engage with mums to explain the role of Growing Up Milk, fuelling word of mouth;

3. Ignite interest in the category via a traditional PR campaign.



Launched in August 2011, our campaign generated impressive results in just 7 months, including;

• The number 1 natural Google search ranking for our informational website;

• 333% search uplift;

• 1,500 moments with influential mums;

• PR coverage worth £1.8m.



The Situation

At the age of 1 year, children can start drinking cows’ milk. Growing Up Milk is fortified milk for toddlers from 12 months, which mums can choose instead.



It's a simple, familiar, way to give toddlers the extra nutrients they need and aligns with the UK Departments of Health’s recommendation that all children receive supplements of vitamins A, C and D from the age of twelve months, even if they have a healthy, balanced diet.



The issue was mums seemed to ‘naturally’ switch their children to cows’ milk, unaware of the benefits of Growing Up Milk as an alternative.



The Goal

To generate more conversation, more often, more positively about the Growing Up Milk category, amongst mums.



We recognised the need to reach mums before they switched their children to cows’ milk. Working with the client and our head of digital, we identified a crucial timeframe – when a child is 10-to-12-months-old – and that ‘conversation is king’ for mums, on and offline (see slides below).



Therefore, our campaign would need to focus on affecting conversations amongst relevant mums by leveraging the key sources they look to (friends and family, internet and forums, media and experts).



The Strategy

A 3-phase strategy to create a fully integrated campaign reaching mums via all the channels they approach for information and conversation, in order to:



1. Neutralise the incorrect information online about Growing Up Milk;

2. Engage with mums to explain the role of Growing Up Milk properly, fuelling word of mouth;

3. Ignite interest in the category via a traditional media relations campaign.



This was a real departure for the category – a sector traditionally used to branded, single-idea campaigns. Our approach was multi-message, brand-neutral, category-wide and intelligently targeted to impact the notoriously hard-to-reach mum audience. It has been designed as a long-term journey (3 years), this entry covers year one only.



Execution

3-phase strategy, across paid, earned and owned media:



1. Neutralise the field; create informative content

We built a home for information about the category, www.growingupmilkinfo.com, featuring information, infographics and unscripted expert and mum testimonials. It allows us to correct badly-informed content online and is a resource for mums looking for information when switching milks at 12 months. Paid, earned and owned activity is directed to the website.



2. Ignite the growing up milk message; build brand advocates

Seventy mums (‘Mumtors’) with a passion for Growing Up Milk were identified and became a vocal community sharing their passion for Growing Up Milk with friends and family, blogging, commenting on forums and newspaper articles.



3. Engage the media and real mums; change perceptions of the category

Traditional PR campaign – supported with retailer and parenting advertorials – raised awareness in mainstream and mum media. Proactive stories included the UK’s first Toddler Census.



Documented Results

Paid

• 6m advertorial impressions;

• 7.3m PPC impressions;

• Average daily PPC goal completions: 6%;

• < 5 minutes spent on the site; < 5 pages, per visit;

• 100% higher than competitor PPC activity;

• 2.2m Facebook advertising impressions.



Owned

• www.growingupmilkinfo.com the number 1 organic search result;

• Risen from page 3 of Google to number 1 in 6 months;

• 17% of the campaign’s keywords rank on the first page of Google;

• Over 10,000 visitors to www.growingupmilkinfo.com (of target audience of 900,000) – 100% increase in traffic since launch;

• 25,000 infographic views with a retention 50% longer than industry average.



Earned

• 400 pieces of coverage;

• 505m OTS;

• Average campaign key message delivery: 55%;

• £1.8m AVE;

• Over 1,500 ‘Mumtor moments’ (proactive and reactive posts, shares, new recruits and external eulogising);

•‘Growing up Milk’ search uplift by 333%