Marketing Magazine Marketing AwardsThe Impossi-Bull Dream? The moo-ving story of how New Zealand...

The moo-ving story of how New Zealand Dairy Foods trotted its Anchor brand off to greener pastures. By Patricia Moore.

Think dairying and maybe Morrinsville springs to mind. But Anchorville? The creation of this small town and its somewhat unusual inhabitants has got kids seriously interested

Anchor manufacturer New Zealand Dairy Foods is the leading supplier of dairy foods to the local market. Along with Anchor, the NZDF portfolio includes market leaders Fresh 'n Fruity, Primo, Calci-Yum and Country Goodness.

Historically the milk market has been dominated by regional brands; Anchor in the upper North Island, Tararua in the lower North Island and Meadowfresh in the south. The consumer's relationship with the brand largely depended on where he or she was raised.

But in the past five years the market has changed. Manufacturers began looking at a national market and Anchor's competitors had been making significant investments in distribution and marketing.

Further adding to NZDF's problems, housebrands had emerged as serious players, heavily undercutting branded product on price.

Research commissioned in February 2001 indicated that brand preference was at best weak and that price was a key motivator for shoppers.

In December the same year it was concluded that advertising for Anchor and its competitors was doing a category job and that housebrands continued to be a threat. It was time to move away from generic messages and build differentiation for the brand.

However, by early 2002, Anchor's new packaging and livery were beginning to provide real visual equity for the brand. A survey in April that year indicated the new bottle shape was 'recognisably' Anchor, and that the brand had a look and feel that not only engaged milk purchasers but also their kids, communicating fun and enjoyment - pester power which should be harnessed.

Armed with this information, the company launched its Anchorville campaign. The key brand challenge was to make New Zealanders believe that Anchor is the fun way to build bodies.

The aim - to be recognised as the preferred milk choice for New Zealanders - thereby driving involvement, loyalty, sales and market share for the brand.

Anchor's marketing strategy was based on the knowledge that children drink enormous amounts of milk and have the power to influence the buyer's decision.

Anchorville has kids (6-15 years) firmly at its heart. However, as everyone consumes milk to some extent, the creative concept needed to be attractive to people of all ages and appeal to specific groups (young women, men, older people, mums) from time to time.

The New Zealand fresh milk market is valued at $263 million and 167 million litres (ACNielsen, MAT to 23 March 2003) and while the total market continues to show good growth, the Anchor brand had been declining.

The immediate opportunity for NZDF was to halt the decline by improving brand preference in the areas of weakness (lower North Island and South Island) where a gain of 1% is worth approximately $2.6 million in sales over a year.

The company also needed to leverage its ability to harness pester power. In the short term this would see kids asking mum for Anchor milk. Ultimately it would generate long-term brand loyalty by establishing a relationship with New Zealanders from a young age.

An earlier packaging and livery update meant the only change required for the Anchorville campaign was for the back labels of all one and two litre Anchor bottles to incorporate a unique 'Anchor-ville code', the mechanic for entry to www.anchorville.co.nz.

Nor did the campaign require any changes to the distribution strategy. However it was influential in gaining access to a number of new stores in both the lower North Island and the South Island.

The heart of the Anchorville experience was www.anchorville.co.nz.

Via this medium, Anchorville became a virtual town where kids could interact with the characters from the Anchor packaging and tvcs.

Going online built one-to-one relationships between the brand and an end-user, thereby driving loyalty. It also created an online community that is a cost-effective channel for the brand to communicate with its consumer. The Anchorville code mechanic on the one and two litre bottles also drove purchases.

Television was used to drive awareness of Anchor, Anchorville and website traffic, using one 60-second and two 30-second executions. The medium allowed for a consistent advertising message throughout the campaign and drove key measures in a category that is very low interest.

A short purchase cycle and being in front of people as often as possible were paramount to the success of the campaign.

The ability to rotate executions meant the brand message was kept fresh by incorporating product-specific or promotional messages into the mix.

TV spend represented 90% of total media investment and was crucial in establishing www.anchorville.co.nz as a destination site for kids and a fully integrated part of the overall strategy.

To deal with the weaker markets in the lower North Island and the south, standard bus panels were used. These drove brand visibility on the back of the tv launch and brought Anchorville to the local community.

By April this year the Anchorville campaign and consistent brand management were beginning to show tangible improvement in brand equity. NZDF met or surpassed all of its key campaign objectives.

The Anchorville campaign set Anchor fresh milk apart from the competition. Generic advertising is history as the company has capitalised on the visual equity created by the packaging relaunch two years ago and developed a campaign which is not only ownable but fully integrated through the line.

The campaign has interested kids in milk and mums are happy to be pestered to buy it.

Prior to the Anchorville campaign, milk purchasing was a decision based largely on price. Anchorville has made buying milk an emotional experience, and, largely through television and the internet, resulted in gains in cut-through, awareness and preference.

But word is out that for Georgie the Cow, Tim the Mare and Spike the Dog, this is only the beginning.

FINALIST FOR THE SMARTSOURCE MARKETING AWARD FOR FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS

New Zealand Dairy Foods - Anchorville

MARKETING LEADER

* Justine Grebenar

MARKETING PARTNERS

* Saatchi & Saatchi

* Flux

* Fast Forward Future Marketing

* Dow Design

Patricia Moore is an Auckland-based freelance writer. Email: mch@xtra.co.nz