Here's How Campbell's Soup Used Programmatic Ads to Boost Sales During the Pandemic

2020 was a challenging year for consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) brands. Changes in consumer behavior were rapid, and the shifts in how and where consumers chose to spend their money varied depending on what new revelations about the COVID-19 pandemic emerged each day. Manufacturers and retailers struggled with supply chain disruptions and brands had to work quickly to shift customer engagement to digital to take advantage of a quick rise in eCommerce.

As such, there were challenges in 2020, but there were also opportunities. Brands that had already built successful partnerships with digital-first marketing agencies were well-positioned to meet their customers' digital needs. One company, the Campbell Soup Company, looked at consumer behaviors and successfully adapted its digital marketing strategy to follow suit.

After the initial rush of sales when the pandemic started, purchases of pantry items like canned goods began to slow down as fatigue set in. Here's how Campbell's Soup saw success with its programmatic advertising campaigns even as shopping fatigue was setting in.

Using Programmatic Ads to Target Consumer Needs and Pain Points

Plenty of brands launched successful mass marketing campaigns in 2020, focusing almost exclusively on the pandemic, as it was at the top of consumers' minds every day. But savvier brands recognized that the pain points consumers were experiencing in one part of the country may not be the same as consumers in another. Some states chose to lay down restrictive masking and social distancing measures, all but shutting down in-store purchases, whereas others permitted most consumers to shop in stores with only a few requirements.

This impacted how brands sold goods to their customers, but it also had a significant impact on the needs and pain points of those consumers.

There were even local and regional differences between the types of foods consumers were buying. While some consumers chose to focus on healthier options, others sought out comfort foods to help them better enjoy being stuck at home. The challenge for consumer brands was to determine how to market to different segments of the population at scale when they each had different needs and circumstances.

According to a recent article from Digiday, Corbin de Rubertis, SVP of Innovation at Campbell Soup's marketing partner Meredith, said, "This is a tricky job for humans. Analysts computing all of the possible combinations of these variables and signals is largely impossible."

To address this challenge, the team at Meredith used artificial intelligence to analyze its store of hyper-contextualized consumer data. The system then repeatedly optimized the brand's display ads to match each audience's appetites for recipes and foods. The idea was to ensure the ads were contextually relevant to each member of the audience.

"It can't be a one-size-fits-all strategy," said Campbell Soup's VP of Global Media and Marketing Services Marci Raible.

The ads were a success, even as the shopping frenzy that marked the start of the pandemic had long come to an end. The strategy ended up yielding a click-through rate that was four times higher than what Meredith had benchmarked for its display ads. At one point, the click-through rate hit a high of 17.2 times the benchmark.

The Power Is in the Data

The success was due in part to the moment in time and the power of AI, but it was also due to the wealth of data Meredith had gathered on Campbell's customers through their long-term partnership. Meredith had already partnered with Campbell's for several years when the pandemic struck. This allowed them to collect data about the intentions of users over time.

When the team at Meredith recognized the regional divides in consumer needs and behaviors, they were able to tailor Campbell's programmatic ads based almost entirely on data about individuals' locations.

The ads themselves were simple. They were basic display ads that featured popular recipes targeted toward people in specific areas, or they were product carousels of ingredients customers could make using Campbell's products.

"We're using technology and data to build out programs in a dynamic way," said Raible, "to reach the consumer where they are."

Find Out More at the Next ProcureCon Marketing Event

Programmatic advertising continues to grow as a potential source of growth for brands, especially those that sell products to consumers. Global programmatic ad spending reached new levels in 2020 and is expected to grow again in 2021.

But programmatic advertising is only as effective as the data used to power it. Using granular and hyper-contextualized data, brands can ensure their display ads are more relevant and useful to users than ever before.

To learn more about how to procure marketing services that drive ROI, don't miss the next ProcureCon Marketing event, happening from December 6^th to 8^th at the Omni Orlando at ChamionsGate Resort, Orlando, Florida.

Download the agenda today.