Whiskas shows some cat love
Reprinted with permission of CAANZ.
After a six year decline, MARS’ biggest cat food brand WHISKAS DRY was in such bad shape with consumers, it had become solely reliant on price and promotional discounting to simply hold its sales. The brand had become a victim to mid-market, and was being pipped at the post by ONE and Chow at the top end of the scale, and by Friskies at the budget end. Furthermore, WHISKAS was facing an average price rise of 15% per kg, and an average reduction in distribution of just over 8%. To add to this, cat food is a category where little switching between brands happens – once the cat licks the bowl, owners tend to stick to the same brand. Would consumers ignore six years of bad history to pay more and give the WHISKAS brand a go?
Campaign objectives
The campaign focused on four objectives: to maintain the current consumer base, encourage consumer loyalty by connecting with them on an emotional level, stem share decline and increase dollar growth from 3.5% to 5%.
Target audience
The campaign aimed to target cat owners who had a very pragmatic relationship with their cat and its food. This audience are not the fussy, pampering type pandered to by ONE – pragmatic cat owners believe their cat is the authority and would therefore choose cat food by what their cat likes. In other words, their relationship with brands is emotional rather than rational.
Further insights revealed that the quirky and independent nature of cats is what the target audience love most. But while they love their cats’ independence, they would also do anything to keep them onside in order to reap more special moments with them.
Creative strategy
WHISKAS Dry would be spearheaded by a campaign that would connect with consumers on an emotional level, backed up by functional reasons (a new formula) why it was a good product. The winning idea came directly from the insights received from the target audience: despite all the things your cat doesn’t love about you, he’ll still love you if you feed him new WHISKAS Dry.
The creative featured common situations where cats wouldn’t appreciate your “affections” such as donning them with a disco collar, leaving the cat door closed or shutting them out. The humourous nature of the ads was the perfect way to build emotional connections with consumers.
Media Strategy
Media followed a two-step strategy: launch and inform, then bridge and engage. In step one, third party TV advertorials quickly announced changes to consumers with credibility driven by the masthead. Step two linked the initial informative launch stage and the all important “likeability” building. Brand TVCs enhanced the emotional connection. These were top and tailed with more functional TVCs, which were phased out over time.
Magazine advertising was used to bring the campaign to life. Editorial integration and product mentions wihtin consumer magazines, radio and online added endorsement, depth of product information and credibility in a trusted environment. A radio promotion and newspaper giveaways built direct dialogue with consumers by encouraging them to share their quirky cat stories. Paid search activity helped pique consumer interest in the product. Sampling was executed early on in the campaign, and a new look pack was introduced, with the colour and logo remaining the same.
Results
The results revealed enormous gains in behavioural, brand and sales measures, overachieving on each of its four campaign objectives. The consumer base was maintained, while loyalty has nearly doubled. Consumers are now allocating 5.8% more of their category spend to WHISKAS, making them twice as valuable than before the campaign.
The six year share decline has been reversed in just one year, with 48% of consumers switching from WHISKAS’ main competitor ONE. Dollar growth was also increased by 55% following the campaign. The WHISKAS brand is now a key contributor to sales growth for MARS, creating a return of $5.32 for every dollar invested.
