Customer Success Stories - Benecol UK: Building an effective testing & learning loop for marketing with continuous marketing mix modeling platform

Highlights

• Benecol® UK improved its marketing ROI by +26% already during the first 4 months of the cooperation.
• Sellforte’s solution revealed what are the most and least profitable marketing channels, enabling Benecol® to take actions and improve its overall marketing ROI.
• Benecol UK’s own brand campaigns, trade marketing, and promotions are now measured on an ongoing basis, enabling the team to constantly review and optimize the performance.

Client Context

Benecol® brand with plant stanol ester was launched in Finland in 1995 as part of a major public health initiative to lower the nation’s cholesterol. Today the brand continues to promote the importance of healthy living, and still retains its core truth – 'Proven to lower cholesterol'.

• Two decades later, Benecol®’s product range has grown to include spreads, bars, yogurts, and drinks.
• The brand is licensed in more than 30 countries by local food companies.
• Benecol®’s parent company Raisio’s turnover was 233.6M€ in 2020, and the company expects the sales to grow in 2021.

In recent years, Benecol® has invested in data-led solutions and partnerships. Previous years have highlighted the need for an agile testing & learning culture.

• Benecol refreshed its packaging in a bid to highlight its ‘cholesterol-lowering’ credentials.
• The new design, with a modern, natural, and clean look, aims to resonate with Benecol’s core audience.
• The new branding is supported with a marketing campaign, which will take in TV, print, and in-store activations.

Client Objectives

Benecol® was interested in determining its marketing activities' ROI in the UK on an ongoing basis that would enable agile data-driven decision making from different perspectives: Across media channels, trade marketing activities, retailers, and product categories.

• Measuring marketing activities' ROI on an ongoing basis.
• Finding out the optimal media mix for each campaign.
• Enhancing budget allocation between different marketing buckets.
• Deep diving into product category and retailer level in terms of marketing effectiveness.
• Measuring the ROI for different trade marketing activities (e.g., retailer chain promotions, shopper marketing...).

Client Questions

• What is the proven impact of marketing activities?
• What are the most effective and efficient media channels?
• What is the right balance between ATL and BTL marketing?
• How to best support sales in different retail channels?

Solution Outputs

Sellforte provided enhanced visibility on the performance of media and trade marketing at a retailer and product level, which enabled Benecol® to act and set in motion various de-escalation plans.

• Optimization opportunities were acted upon, as users leveraged the varying media and trade promotions efficiency of retailers and product categories revealed through Sellforte’s solution.
• The tool also provided insights on the performance of various shopper marketing campaign types, enabling the team to further and continuously improve its shopper marketing execution.

Results

Data-driven marketing changes in the first four months of cooperation increased ROI by 26%.

• Raisio-Benecol optimized marketing investment in the UK, especially in the least efficient marketing channels, including a mixture of media and trade spend-related marketing activities.
• Raisio-Benecol made significant savings without sacrificing sales, resulting in an overall increase in ROI of 26%.
• Monthly updates on marketing performance allow Raisio-Benecol to continuously review and improve its marketing effectiveness and efficiency.

Client Testimonials