Ferrero Australia engaged Deepend to find a method by which to communicate more intimately with their consumers via digital channels, and gain insights into their loyal Australian F18-50 target audience.
Additionally, Deepend knew Ferrero was interested in leveraging their recently launched brand-building gift hamper e-commerce site, FerreroBoutique.com.au, and considered which channels could best serve to drive awareness and sales.
Tied to the launch of the Ferrero Boutique was a larger branding exercise aimed at raising the perception of Ferrero as a luxury brand, and Ferrero wanted to investigate how social media could be used to communicate this refreshed brand image to Australian consumers.
Deepend proposed launching the Ferrero Chocolates Australia Facebook Page as a platform which could facilitate intimate and targeted contact with Australian consumers, drive awareness of the FerreroBoutique.com.au and communicate Ferrero as a boutique, luxury brand to Fans.
Deepend’s approach was multi-phased and based upon the principle of Continuous Improvement, comprising of Acquire, Engage, Social Commerce and Optimise campaign stages. A Facebook Fan acquisition strategy was formulated, utilising a Facebook Ad Reach Block to generate millions of targeted impressions. A content plan was devised based upon the theme of ‘Lost for Words,’ which encapsulated Ferrero’s brand essence of generosity and impressive giving, and allowed for a varied and constantly evolving set of branded content to engage Fans.
The entire Ferrero Boutique online experience was replicated within the Facebook environment, and additional core functionalities such as the ability to Share, ‘Like’ and Send the Ferrero Boutique hampers to Facebook Friends was introduced. These native Facebook functions help to take advantage of the target audience and their current online habits where they are currently residing. Lastly, Facebook content was regularly optimised based on the engagement rates of various content segments eg theme, time of day, content type.
The Facebook media campaign acquired over 13,000 new Fans in less than 24 hours and the Page continued to grow at an incredible rate, easily exceeding the target of 14,000 Fans in the first 4 weeks. One month after launch, the Ferrero Chocolates Australia Page had over 29,000 Likes, and grew to 60,000 Fans during its first quarter. With 81% of all Fans falling within the AU F18-50 demographic, Ferrero successfully re-engaged a lapsed audience. These Fans engaged in over 300,000 interactions within the first 3 months of the Page launching.
The initial 1% conversion rate target for the social commerce component of the strategy was easily surpassed, with a sales conversion rate of 3% during the launch phase of the Ferrero Boutique. The Ferrero Boutique Facebook actually out-performed the main website, with users 1.5 times more likely to purchase via the Facebook Ferrero than via FerreroBoutique.com.au. The initial cost of producing the Boutique was returned through online sales within the first 4 months of launch.
The Optimise campaign phase continues, with Continuous Improvement reporting and optimisation resulting in a current average engagement rate of 3 times the industry average and a Fan base of over 144,000.
