GLACEAU VITAMIN WATER CASE STUDY
Customer Insight, store location strategy, shopper insight, sales territory planning, sales activation campaign
“We needed a software tool which was ready to use as none of the team was an experienced GIS user and timelines were such that we didn’t have time to invest in intensive training or setting up a system ourselves. Having a version of MarketView built specifically for our purposes meant that we were able to devise and execute our launch strategy in record time”
Stewart Beale, Strategy & Insights, Coca-Cola GB
The Brief
Cola European Partners, the owners of Glaceau Vitamin Water, did not suffer from a lack of data but from the intelligent use of this data to aid company development.
The launch of any new soft drink is a major sales, marketing and logistics exercise. The key to a robust programme is in maximising the chances of success in an increasingly competitive environment.
Vitamin Water’s strategy had to be right from the outset. Marrying the brand’s consumer profile with the right outlets in the right consumer, workplace and retail geodemographic locations was, therefore, critical to the long term success.
A number of S2 pre-selected outlets were already stocking the brand so Coke wanted to ensure that the UK rollout continued in a highly targeted way. They also wanted to undertake their own analysis because they needed the ability to respond quickly to ad hoc business requirements.
The project objective was the successful UK launch of Vitamin Water by gaining distribution in major retail sectors. Key to Vitamin Water’s success was the use of Coke’s database of over 500,000 store locations which we manage and have previously segmented into 16 ‘shopper driven’ environments.
Our Approach
We did extensive consumer profiling to further define the target audience which was broadly defined as young, urban professionals who are open to new ideas, seek simple ways to stay healthy and find tap water boring.
Coke wanted to prioritise outlets in pre-defined ‘hot spot’ areas of high traffic outlets in both day and nighttime environments. We set out to identify the best store locations to create rankings which illustrate the quality of the outlet’s location in terms of local geodemographics and employment.
We then built a customised version of MarketView, our data mapping and analysis tool, pre-loaded with locations of existing stockists and prospect outlets, both coloured according to the demographic suitability of the towns they were in, and pre-loaded with the locations of Coke’s distribution depots, coloured to indicate fixed and mobile locations. We also provided demographic suitability scores to be assigned to any imported outlets.
We were also tasked to give Coke the ability to understand the inter-relationships between existing stockists, prospect outlets, distribution points and demographic hotspots. We used data from a number of sources, namely Mossaic Consumer Classification and our own workplace data plus Coke’s transactional data such as EPOS sales.
The Result
Coke was able to export maps, ranking and catchment reports by any variable including drivetime or radius parameters. A list of existing and prospect outlets ranked by a priority score was then produced for Coke to telephone and for sales people to visit.
The simple mantra of getting the product into the hands of the right people, via the right outlets, in the right locations was deemed a major strength of our work.
Accurate measurement of this rollout strengthened the rationale for building and maintaining their database whilst further developing a blueprint for other new product and promotional initiatives in the UK.
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