Birds Eye invests in brand and creative, returns to growth
Birds Eye marketing boss Steve Challouma says investing in brand has underpinned its recovery. Now the company is working on new metrics to value creative investment (Marketing Week).
Key points
- Brand shifted strategy following acquisition by Nomad Foods to allow sub-categories more freedom
- Company also changed how it measures creativity - fewer focus groups, more neuroscience – while prioritising ‘emotional connection’
- “It has had quite a big impact on quite fundamental brand decisions,” - Birds Eye marketing director, Steve Challouma
- Average RoI up 24%
- 5% sales decline reversed to +4% in 2018
- Marketing team now working to create new ‘ROCI’ metric – return on creative investment
Strong sales figures in a tough category underline the fact that creative brand investment can move the needle. Challouma is emphatic: “Everyone is aligned in our business in getting back to investing in brand, creativity in the broadest sense, and quality. [That approach] has been the foundation of our recovery.”
He also accepts that while the brand is attempting to come up with new metrics, it will always be difficult to measure creativity; that good creative costs money, and must be given “the respect it deserves”.
It's an interesting contrast with CFOs trumpeting the cost savings of taking creative in house, and a bold statement of intent from a company under pressure from private labels. Though in that regard, Challouma suggests its approach is also bearing fruit: Promotions have fallen from 70% to 50% of sales. That will definitely keep the CFO interested in the value of creative investment.
