MEDIA & MARKETING:Competition for sports clubs helped cereal brand regain some lost ground

SOMETIMES, BIG brand marketing is just about rolling out the latest TV commercials, but other times it’s much harder work.

Kellogg’s pushed the boat out last year with its “field of dreams” competition. The campaign is a good case study in successful integrated marketing and the worry for other brand managers is that the boss tells them to roll up their sleeves and conceive something similar.

Kellogg’s used to have the market for breakfast cereals to itself, but in recent years rival brands have been carving out market share. Kellogg’s decided that it needed to do something to reconnect with its consumer grassroots, to demonstrate that the brand cares about local communities.

But Kellogg’s also wanted a promotion that would shift more boxes from supermarket shelves.

The solution was a competition that offered sports clubs the chance to win a €100,000 makeover of their facilities.

The idea was imported from the US, where Kellogg’s runs a similar competition centred on local baseball pitches.

According to Louise Sullivan, Kellogg’s corporate communications manager, its below-the-line agency Ogilvy One was charged with adapting the idea for Ireland while Leo Burnett designed the television and outdoor ads and the website.

Murray Consultants did the PR and media agency Carat was tasked with forging a commercial link-up with RTÉ.

If RTÉ had said no, it is unlikely that the competition would have got off the ground.

However, the broadcaster warmed to this cross-platform partnership, though Kellogg’s or Carat are not saying how much cash changed hands to persuade RTÉ to play ball.

"Field of dreams" was launched in April 2010 on the Late Late Showand Kellogg's simultaneously commenced an advertising burst on RTÉ urging clubs to enter the competition online.

Promotions were also run on the 2FM breakfast show and Kellogg's bought full-page ads in the RTÉ Guide.

RTÉ programmes were broadcast from clubs that had signed up for the competition. Meanwhile, Ogilvy One implemented a direct mail campaign to 1,500 sporting clubs across the country and created a Facebook page to interact with sports club members.

On the back of all that activity, 400 clubs registered to compete. To enter, each club had to collect tokens from packs of Cornflakes or Crunchy Nut cereals.

Clubs had to collect 500 to 900 tokens for their entry, depending on their size. RTÉ branding was also present on the cereal packs, which helped Carat reduce media costs in its negotiations with the broadcaster. Kellogg’s best-selling cereal is Special K and according to the Checkout/Nielsen listing of Ireland’s top 100 brands, Special K has been holding its own.

However, Cornflakes is under pressure and Flahavan’s porridge is now a bigger brand in terms of grocery retail value.

Last August, the entrants were slimmed down to one contender from each of the four provinces. Online, text and postal voting was opened to the public.

To encourage product purchase by voters, people who voted by post and enclosed five cereal pack tokens had a chance to win a €5,000 holiday.

Each finalist was assigned a celebrity champion to support them across the voting stage. RTÉ camera crews went to the clubs and the footage was used for TV commercials.

As the winner announcement approached, Carat bought outdoor sites with copy specific to each province urging people to support their club.

The winning club, Kilglass Gaels in Roscommon, was announced at the end of October in a four-minute slot that took up the entire first advertising break of that evening's Late Late Show.

Viewers who were unaware of the competition may have been bemused by this overkill, but the slot was watched by 750,000 people, more viewers than any other Late Latead break in 2010.

Kellogg’s estimates that about 250,000 people participated in the competition, either by collecting tokens, voting or visiting the website.

Linking up with RTÉ as media partner was crucial, according to Carat account director Chris Nolan. “Our strategy was rooted in creating a local groundswell that would gain national momentum.”

TV3 boss David McRedmond hailed “field of dreams” as an example of closer links between content and advertising, and he sees such linkage as a growing trend. However, this sort of marketing activity involves a large expense and the competition is on the sidelines for 2011.

Louise Sullivan of Kellogg’s says the promotion may return next year.

“Field of dreams was fantastic from a corporate brand perspective and it also got Cornflakes back into growth. We also managed to increase frequency of purchase for Crunchy Nut. In marketing there is often the tendency to say we can’t go back and do that again. But I think there is still life in field of dreams and I would love to see it come back.”