Mondelez & Couche-Tard

Overview

Some things are just human nature—like the feeling of elation you get from being surprised. So when Cadbury and Mac’s Convenience Stores teamed up to reward customers for simply logging onto the stores’ Wi-Fi, they knew they had created a promotion that would give them the results they needed. From what appeared to be a simple promotion on the surface, the approach was much more strategic, involving 4 companies each contributing their own area of expertise.

Mondelez International, a global leader in the food and beverage industry, led the initiative through their Shopper Futures program – a series of 90 day pilot projects that bring cutting edge startups and leading retailers together to transform the consumer retail experience. In the words of Sofia Oliveria, Senior Brand Manager at Mondelez International, the program was focused around one main purpose, “Our goal was to drive penetration with Millenials and find unique and relevant ways to reach them with our products in that moment of purchase for a high impulse category. We were curious to know, how could we effectively grab their attention and then keep them engaged and coming back?”

Mondelez International teamed up with convenience store industry powerhouse, Couche-Tard, who owns Mac’s and sought out state-of-the-art location-based marketing provider, Turnstyle. Together, the trifecta uncovered invaluable information about their customers and delivered highly contextual offers and rewards to drive increased traffic and purchases.

Our goal was to drive penetration with Millenials and find unique and relevant ways to reach them with our products in that moment of purchase for a high impulse category. We were curious to know, how could we effectively grab their attention and then keep them engaged and coming back?

Sofia Oliveria

Senior Brand Manager

 
Turnstyle’s cloud-based Wi-Fi marketing platform, powered by Cisco Meraki access points, allowed the two retail giants to successfully map, analyze, and market to customers, generating a considerable increase in revenue and customer loyalty.

Deployment and campaign

Based in Canada, Turnstyle offers companies a chance to gain exceptional insight into customers and patrons using Wi-Fi. For Couche-Tard and Mondelez International, Turnstyle chose Cisco Meraki for ease of management and reliability. Turnstyle’s VP of Partnerships and Business Development, Ryan Freeman, stressed: “When you’re dealing with huge customers, you can’t afford to mess up. The Meraki API is extremely reliable.” After an immersion period where all partners were able to learn more about each other’s strengths and areas of expertise, Turnstyle retrofitted a select number of locations with Cisco Meraki APs. Because of the clonable Cisco Meraki settings and rapid zero-touch provisioning, the locations were set up and ready to go within just a few days. Turnstyle then overlaid their cloud-based Wi-Fi marketing analytics platform to provide a graphical representation of Wi-Fi users in each location. Next came the experimentation…
Throughout a 30-day period, 6 types of offers were distributed to consumers depending on visit frequency. Logging on to the Wi-Fi network at Mac’s would reward visitors immediately and simultaneously serve as an opt-in to future communications with Mac’s new program. Subsequent visits by opted-in customers would be recognized by the Cisco Meraki APs and trigger Turnstyle’s marketing platform to deliver additional, personalized rewards and offers to customers’ mobile devices—all without the need for a mobile application.
Signage outside each store advertised the promotion to ensure every customer was aware of the opportunity to score big on snacks. But no true experiment would be valid without a control. The promotion was only offered during the month of January, while December and February acted as baselines. What they discovered proved the incredible value in the dual Meraki-Turnstyle deployment.

Results

Over 3,244 customers opted-in to the program during January, demonstrating a massive 81% increase in sign-ins over the prior 30-day period, driven primarily by signage advertising the campaign. Turnstyle’s comprehensive dashboard showed that 30% of customers used Facebook, creating a treasure trove of demographic information for the marketing team. With additional information such as age, gender, and visitor frequency, Mac’s received information that could be used to tailor future marketing efforts to their primary audience.
Most significant were the coupon redemption rates and return on the campaign. Approximately 14% of customers who received a coupon, redeemed it. This is a significant t jump from average email coupon redemption rates, which hover between just 2% and 3%. Interestingly, despite the immediate offer of a free candy bar, most coupons were redeemed within three days—meaning most customers were motivated to return for a wholly separate visit to retrieve their reward.
Altogether, customers returned to their local Mac’s 25% more frequently than they had before the campaign. This is marketing at its best: actively causing a measurable change in consumer behavior. A candy bar promotion on its own may not seem revolutionary, but backing it with the power of location and behavioral data amplified results dramatically.

The future

Focusing strictly on return, Turnstyle was able to demonstrate the full impact of this 25% increase in customer loyalty. Assuming an average purchase of $4, across Couche-Tard’s global footprint, this channel has the potential to create millions of dollars in return for a relatively small investment in technology and customer acquisition costs.
Unprecedented in its simplicity and success, the campaign is now a respected example of the collaborative power of Turnstyle’s marketing platform, Cisco Meraki Wi-Fi, and the Mac’s and Cadbury brands.