Photos: Enjoy Life Foods
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the bi-monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
Enjoy Life, a Mondelēz-owned brand of allergy-friendly cookies and snacks, has moved decisively toward one-to-one marketing, led by insights obtained from vigorous analysis of consumer data.
The effort extends to influencer marketing with social media mavens and food bloggers, as well as event marketing and sampling programs designed to invite consumers to share personal information and join in the conversation. Trust, the brand has learned, grows best from individual engagement.
“The way that we run our business is we are engaging with consumers all the time,” said Joel Warady, Enjoy Life’s chief sales and marketing officer, in a presentation at Groceryshop. “We don’t believe in using PR firms or ad agencies to talk to our consumers. We do it on a one-to-one basis.”
Mr. Warady said Enjoy Life applies three core principles behind its one-to-one marketing approach:
Good products are not enough. “The reality is that good products are not enough. We see a lot of companies out there that create good products. They grow to around five, seven, ten million dollars in revenue, and then they stop because it’s not enough.”
Think like a publisher. “Whether you are a retailer or whether you’re a brand, you have to think like a publisher. Which means you have to be constantly publishing content.”
Act like a storyteller. “The reality is, you have to tell stories every single day. And we share stories all the time with our consumers.”
In the physical world, Enjoy Life hands out samples and coupons at numerous allergy-friendly events across the country. Last year, the company launched Enjoy Life Land to add an experiential element. Parents are required to share contact data before entry. Mr. Warady said, “To get maybe a few different samples and coupons, they will wait 20 minutes in line to engage with us.”
Enjoy Life believes big food companies and legacy retailers frequently underestimate the threat from empowered consumers. Mr. Warady added, “The fact is, if you’re a brand, the consumer owns your brand. We may think we know what our brand stands for, but the reality is, the brand stands for whatever our consumers say it does.”