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PRECISION MARKETING

International Column

DM promotions lead the way in the Ukraine

Direct marketing in the Ukraine has been quick to catch on, according to a report compiled by leading Ukrainian dm companies. For the last two years the dm market has increased by approximately 30%. Within the dm arena in the Ukraine, offer-based promotions are the most popular activity. Ukrainian people enjoy taking part in promotions where there is a chance to win fabulous prizes such as property, cars and cash, simply by collecting coupons and sending them to a specified address.

We are seeing many companies in the FMCG sector use promotions as part of their campaigns to generate interest, increase sales, create loyalty to the brand as well as build a database of consumers' names and addresses with which to develop further direct marketing campaigns in the future.

At present, there are several coffee brands in the country from both foreign and Ukrainian producers. This includes Nestle from Switzerland, with Nescafe being one of the leading brands in the Ukrainian coffee market. And, like most coffee producers, Nestle relies heavily on sales promotions to sell more coffee.

Here at DistriMedia, a direct marketing agency in the Ukraine, we have worked with Nestle since 2002 on three major campaigns, all with a similar objectives: to encourage consumers to buy jars of Nescafe Classic or Nescafe Gold. Consumers were simply asked to send in the tops of the coffee jars along with their personal details. To make the promotion as hassle free as possible for consumers, Nestle produced pre-printed addressed envelopes, which were handed out to consumers by the promoters in the supermarket, so all they had to do was pop it in the post.

On this particular promotion, the consumer had the chance to win one of three two-bedroom apartments in Kiev, Kharkiv, and Odessa. In addition, the first 25,000 consumers to send in their completed entry instantly received a mug with the Nescafe logo.

The Nestle promotion was a huge success. More than 500 000 consumers took part in the promotion. Within three months more than one million jars of coffee were sold. The promotion received the highest quantity of response between week 11 and week 15 - 80, 000 responses per week. Around 58% of entries into the promotion were from women and 15% sent in two lots of entries.

Following the success of the promotion, Nestle has repeated the promotional campaign on several occasions. The company has identified that this form of dm activity not only attracts consumers to participate but also provides a good return on investment, with the added benefit of building a database of Nescafe drinkers.

In this case it's not surprising that Nestle promotion was well received by consumers. The prize on offer made the promotion very appealing and enticing to its audience. However, it would be interesting to see if Nestle ran a less extravagant promotion would they still achieve the same results. I think it's fair to say that if a company wants to run an effective promotion it's crucial they have a sizeable budget to spend on luxury prizes to give away.

Comments are taken from Nathalie Chorna, Marketing Manager of DistriMedia in Kiev, Ukraine - a member of the InterDirect Network of independent direct marketing agencies, which has Tullo Marshall Warren as its UK member.

Contact: marketing@distrimedia.kiev.ua

If you require further information, please contact Susan Perolls or Lorna Webley at Loudmouth PR on 01306 885000