Designed to generate awareness of the new Rose’s Lemon Marula, Pomegranate (now known as Grenadine) and Black Cherry variants, the Rose’s billads campaign incorporated various ambient media elements to also empower consumers to be able to mix Rose’s cocktails in the comfort of their own home.
Consumers were first made aware of the new variants by the billads’ Table Talkers, which were placed on every table inside the venues. The message was soon reinforced when waiters presented consumers with a Rose’s cocktail menu along with the food menu and further encouraged them to try out one of the new flavours with their meal or at home.
“The Rose’s mix menu was designed as a folded mini brochure which presented consumers with different recipes, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, on how to mix the various flavours. These were also laminated and given to the barmen at the venues so that they could mix orders,” says Craig Segal, managing director of Nine Mile Media. “We also put together incentives for the waiters, to ensure their enthusiasm for the campaign.”
The message again hit home when consumers were presented with their billads bill folder which not only contained bright, bold and colourful Rose’s advertising, but also another Rose’s cocktail menu which they could take home.
“We took this campaign one step further by having the cocktails listed on the point of sale systems to track sales,” says Segal. This was a significant step, as it was the first time that billads has integrated into the restaurateurs’ business at this level. “It enabled us to track sales and build in managed incentives,” he adds.
Independent research of the campaign indicates very impressive results. Conducted by Interact RDT, a consumer experience research consultancy, researchers questioned 120 respondents at 10 different restaurants around Johannesburg after they had paid their bill. Of these 120, 45 were again telephonically interviewed two weeks later.
“The research revealed that 82% (onsite) and 89% (telephonic) respondents could recall the advertised brand or product, whilst an average of 76% of all respondents noticed the advertising on the table talker and inside the bill folder and 74% received a Rose’s cocktail menu,” says Segal.
In terms of advertising recall, 80% (onsite) and 62% (telephonic) were able to recall a campaign message, whilst 74% (onsite) and 63% (telephonic) remembered the main message, ‘Try our exciting new flavours’. The research also indicated that 84% of onsite respondents were able to recall a Rose’s cordial flavour and, of those, 56% mentioned one of the new flavours.
“Quite significant for Billads is that 20% of the respondents indicated that they discussed the cocktails advertised on the mix menu at the table; 66% indicated that someone at the table took the menu home, and 53% would consider trying or buying the flavours,” says Segal.
As a result of the promotion, 53% of telephonic respondents had already tried or purchased a new Rose’s cordial flavour, 25% had already made a cocktail or mixed drink with the brand, and 89% felt that the campaign had increased their awareness of the new flavours.
