Launching a new product? Email works

Here's a great example of Schwan's Foodservice maximizing click-thoughs by augmenting eExtra Points newsletter promotions with a solo-email and an impactful landing page.

SMA Incentive program going gangbusters!

The pilot phase of the Sales and Marketing Agency Incentive has come to a close with positive results: Your brokered sales forces signed up hundreds of key account operators earning bonus Foodservice Rewards points funded by BI.

Here's a presentation for use with Sales and Marketing Agencies or internal salespeople. Program Benefits include:

1) Identifying target accounts (your brokers know who they are)
2) Tracking activities to compare agency to agency effectiveness
3) Communicating product features and benefits to salespeople
4) Rewarding specific selling behaviors effectively

A big thank you to Advance, Bunge and Splenda for testing the program. Pricing and implementation details can be found here.

Dear Abbey

A huge THANK YOU from the whole Foodservice Rewards team to Abbey Dryden who has been instrumental in the program's success at Procter & Gamble.


From clever scavenger hunt promotions to new contests delivering instant gratification, she's added creativity and innovation at every turn.

Boy, are we going to miss you: Best wishes on maternity leave :-)

How many media types are you testing?

In a world of fragmented media (specialty publications, blogs, YouTube, more...) are you reaching your audience regularly? Maybe it's time to test an educational series like Nestle's podcast.

Welcome Perdue!

Perdue Foodervice is the latest sponsor to join Foodservice Rewards, launching shortly on the website and through this Planet Perdue promotion focused on the K-12 segment.

DSR momentum builds

Wondering if DSR's are excited about earning opportunities in the Foodservice Rewards distributor incentive program? Just look at this customized signature a Cheney Brothers DSR added to her emails. She also included the gift card image above (but with her personalized enrollment code).

Here are the Distributor/DSR numbers for July:

194 Distributors (13 in July)
1,818 Distributor Sales Reps (261 in July)
2,655 Customers Attached (491 in July)
1,882 New Operators (421 in July)
773 Existing Operators (70 in July)

Recent New Members:

Performance Food Group – Carroll County
Sysco Central Florida
Pratts Foodservice

Recent Travels (Z will soon be a platinum flyer on Northwest):

Merchants Foodservice Food Show – Alabama
Holiday Wholesale Sales Meeting – Wisconsin
Sysco Dallas Sales Meeting / P&G Promo Kick Off

(P&G's Sysco Dallas Promo runs 7/30-9/23/07. Giving away an iPod or 10,000 points to the MA who signs up the most customers in each two week period. Has already resulted in 127 MAs creating accounts!)

Upcoming Travels:

ProGroup – Richmond, VA
Cheney Brothers – Riviera Beach, FL
Clark Foodservice Food Show – South Bend, IN

Kudos, to Unilever Distributor Account Managers whose leads have resulted in 16 new houses. If you'd like to copy this best practice, we'll gladly help you design an internal sales promotion using the FSR platform and co-fund points.

When One Sweepstakes Prize Isn't Enough

Sometimes one sweepstakes prize just isn't enough - that's why Nestle UK cleverly designed this year-long opportunity to win tickets to Britain's Favourite Events.

With every Nescafe reward code entered, the caterer can enter a prize drawing for a "VIP package for two, including reserved seats, a champagne reception, fine dining with a complimentary bar and £300 spending money" at any one of six events.

Help your customers be more successful

Some foodservice marketers have abdicated their responsibility to build brands by giving funds to distributors and expecting them to market products on their behalf.

Not Nestle FoodServices - just look at the quality of this Entertain the Senses Promotion. It zeros in with helpful ways operators can enhance the patron experience and gives them the tools through Foodservice Rewards to redeem for featured items like scented oils/candles, water features/fountains, games like Sceneit^®, flat screen TV's and more. That's how to add value - by helping your customers be more successful - and build brand as a result.

Volume Bonus

Copy this promotion - a stretch goal based on historical redemption trends. Note how Procter & Gamble cleverly adds value with their quarterly BizSaver newsletter.

If you're not yet thinking about developing a DTO publication like BizSaver or Nestle's Entertain the Senses Idea Booklet, you may be missing an opportunity.

Kraft-ing launch promotions

Kraft's entry into the program features a clever message to DSR's (above) and this announcement to operators in today's ExtraPoints newsletter.

For more details, visit www.kraftfoodservice.com/rewards

2006 promotion ROI results are in!

Foodservice Rewards manufacturers ran 82 promotions last year. See an example.

88% had a positive ROI, 64% had an ROI of 100% or better, the average ROI was 178%, and the highest ROI was 1,862%.

The ROI analysis measures only incremental cases redeemed during the promotion period. Incremental cases were a result of new customers buying a product for the first time and/or existing customers buying more during the promotion period than during the same prior period (if the promotion ran 90 days, we compared buyer's purchase history to the 90 days prior to the promotion).

BI's Mission is to produce measurable results for our customers, and judging from these first quarter '07 Key Performance Indicators - so far, so good.

Refer and Earn Direct Mail

On Sponsors' behalf, we're mailing this Refer & Earn postcard to 1,265 participating Colleges & Universities. Monitoring changes to the segment's baseline referral rate will to allow us to make an informed decision about the expanding these direct mail overlays to other high-value segments.

4/26/2007 postscript: The mailing appears to have had no effect on Refer and Earn rates, and as a result will not be repeated in favor of a telemarketing test.

Segment: College/University

Week # of Referrals # Enrolled % Converted # Submitting Referrals
23-Apr-2007 3 0 0.00% 1
16-Apr-2007 3 2 66.67% 3
09-Apr-2007 2 2 100.00% 2
02-Apr-2007 1 0 0.00% 1
26-Mar-2007 3 0 0.00% 3

Combo Like Crazy

Banners on the new site are producing thousands of visitors to landing pages - think of them as a virtual sales call when combined with a trial or points offer.

Compare this technique to an in-person sales call (which can easily cost $300) and one begins to glimpse the power of direct marketing in Foodservice.

Cross-selling made easier

With the new Product Cross Sell promotion it's even easier to generate incremental sales across your portfolio:

1) Select your target - typically existing buyers of your most popular products

2) Select complementary products eligible for bonus points - such as new products, under-redeemed products, or products that menu well with the selections above

3) Call your Coalition Manager with start and end dates - easy!

Consider turning this type of promotion "always on" as the new sales it will generate are purely incremental.

Sweeps and Contests Popular As Ever

This week's ExtraPoints newsletter features several sweepstakes and contests. Note the many clever approaches:

Gold Medal baking mix offers one entry with every case redeemed and a winner every week. Dawn Heavy Duty Degreaser generates testimonials with a "Share Your Story" Contest. Basic American recognizes their 25,000 point winner publicly in the newsletter.

Winners are also great material for website banners - Ray Smith would be happy to contact them on your behalf for digital photos and a release.

Employee Motivation & Retention in action

Nestle's Flavor Up Rock On promotion is a super example of how to incorporate Foodservice Rewards' key themes: Employee motivation and retention.

With so many companies focused on price, price, price, isn't it time manufacturers provided genuine value-adds like this one? Only half of the expense of running a foodservice operation is food cost. Tackling labor cost and motivation is as valuable - and a blue ocean opportunity.

Twenty Millionth Code Winner

"We're not willing to compromise on taste or ingredients for the sake of price" says Tracy Glen, CDM, and Nutrition Services Coordinator at the Orange Grove Center.

And a good thing, too. As a result, this non-profit for the developmentally disabled entered the 20 millionth Foodservice Reward code and earned 40,000 bonus points: Get the whole story.

Can you change as fast as the market does?

There are many benefits to knowing who your customers are - including the ability to rapidly respond to changing market conditions. In just three weeks from the date Manhattan banned trans-fats, Bunge launched this conversion promotion to its customers of products containing trans-fats.

Communicated via the ExtraPoints newsletter and postcards versioned for buyers and non-buyers, this promotion allowed Bunge to offer street customers a compelling trial offer without the cost of an in-person sales call. (And it will just take a "click of a mouse" to replicate when other states follow suit.)

12% response rate to direct mail? Wow.

Ever wonder if operators read your expensive direct mail creations? Add a Foodservice Rewards code and find out.

This tri-fold P&G mailer received over 7,900 redemptions of the inserted reward code label - a stunning 12% open rate to this combo rebate/points offer.

Program improvements for the New Year

This update highlights program improvements for '07:

- No cost to participate in the bimonthly eNewsletter!
- Redesigned Website!
- More banner ads!
- New promotion type!

As always, please contact John Neupauer or Sandy Younger with questions, comments & suggestions.

Six tips for maximum e-impact

Here's an example of a brilliantly designed communication.

Notice:

1. A winning headline: Clean Up with Dawn and Earn up to 2,450 points!
2. "Reward your employees" positioning - a known need in this segment
3. A deadline - Hurry, this offer ends 1/31/07
4. Here's How: A simple explanation of how to calculate point earnings. (Lack of this component handicaps many offers)
5. Click here to learn more - a downloadable full line segment-specific brochure
6. Cross promote other relevant brands from the portfolio in the "P.S." position

Remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

How to measure Customer Lifetime Value?

Ultimately, it's down to your company's definition, but perhaps this article and related links will help.

We're helping sponsors interpret their data by tracking the average number of cases redeemed per quarter for participants in a high-value segment and calculating the likely profit contribution for the year.

From there it's easy to set up promotions to the remaining non-buyers in the segment using a cost-per-customer-acquired approach that virtually guarantees a positive ROI.

Ask your Coalition Manager (A.K.A. the easy button) for details.

The power of Convergence

Here's a nice example of multiple sponsors' promotions converging in the same issue of Foodservice Director.

Wake Up To Rewards

Consistently successful promotions integrate multiple media channels:

1) Banners on the website. Here are all the placement options available to you, contact your Coalition Manager to reserve one (hosting is free when you are running a concurrent points promotion).

2) Links to an explanatory landing page. Landing pages are not expensive to create when you supply the graphic elements and copy. Contact your Coalition Manager for a quote so you can feature multiple products, drive website registrations, invite operators to join a panel, view and submit recipes & more.

3) Send e-mail reminders to your key audience segments. Here are excellent examples from Bunge and Schwan's.

4) Complement your efforts with print-on-demand mail. Not everyone can afford to send a 20 page magazine to their customer base, but everyone can afford to send a print-on-demand postcard, bi-fold or flyer to their best customer segments.

Remember, with Foodservice Rewards you can target by buyer/non-buyer, ownership type and sub-segment, making it worth investing, for example, $1-2 each to reach 500 non-buying self-op hospitals.

You know the drill: Contact your Coalition Manager (a.k.a. the "easy button" for a quote and turnkey promotion set up).

We Love To Eat Out

Steal this idea: An "experiential" reward for both the Chef and his patrons.

Nestle UK is offering a chance to dine out at top restaurants like Rick Stein’s Seafood (I've eaten there and can attest it's a rare treat), Gordon Ramsay’s Claridges and The Ivy when you submit Foodservice Rewards codes from Maggi. Counter-intuitive? Yes, but if you're an operator, why not a rare night out + a chance to sample a competitor's fare?

Make Menu Magic

See King & Prince/Mrs. Friday's cleverly designed microsite, Make Menu Magic and its summer promotion offering double foodservice rewards points for registered participants.

We'll add 5,000 points to your account in June

This promotion is working well in one of BI's other coalitions, Aftermarket Rewards. Why not give it a try as a foodservice sponsor-specific promotion? Click here to have John Neupauer quote & set it up for you.

Promote a major sports event

With the rest of the world engrossed in the World Cup (that's soccer) the UK office produced this promotional wall chart for its pub operators. The awareness effort was accompanied by mini-logo'd soccer balls, ads in trade publications, and by all accounts scored a goooooaaaal!

P.S. To see the way we support the game in Minnesota, view this video (and look for me & my kids cheering about 12 seconds in :-)

Summer 100,000 Healthcare Give Away

Here's a look at the Summer Giveaway for healthcare operators.

Note the clever use of an ordinary (image) banner and the (text) banner mocked up to look like search results. Both are pulling well on healthcare sites and in healthcare newsletters.

Welcome Hellmann's, Knorr & Wish-Bone

Here's an excellent example of a welcome e-mail announcing three new brands' participation in Foodservice Rewards. To date, over 8,000 operators have claimed their reward codes.

Hospital Promotion Mailer

Shortly, we'll be mailing this invitation to 6,000 hospitals sourced from Foodservice Director and HFM mailing lists. The 11"x11" mailer will also be inserted into June and August issues of Foodservice Director being delivered to hospital buyers and will be supported by print ads, e-mails to HFM members and placement in the Foodservice Director newsletter.

UK insert and banner examples

Looking for inspiration? Here's how the UK is promoting FSR sweepstakes (never mind the funny spelling, across the pond they do enrol people in the programme):

How does 50,000 free points sound?
How does 50,000 free points capture your attention?
How does 50,000 free points heighten your interest?

Unilever Foodsolutions Solves Saucy Problems

We're pleased to welcome Unilever Foodsolutions' many brands to the Foodservice Rewards coalition. Watch for millions of reward codes and an innovative Soup, Salad and Sandwich promotion in July.

P&G School Cleaning Program Brochure

Brochures containing reward codes (see P&G example) increase email open rates and direct mail readership. Ask John for a multi-use reward code (special fixed code that is easy to print - but magically, can only be entered once by each recipient).

Sweeps That Pull

Here's a sweepstakes landing page from another BI coalition featuring a rotating selection of 20,000 point awards that's really pulling in entries. If you'd like us to design you a similar page (and corresponding banner) contact me.

Nestle Canada Launch Materials

The Canadian launch of Foodservice Rewards at the International Food and Beverage Show was wonderfully supported by Nestle's customized sell sheets and Ultimate Rewards Sweepstakes, as well as the French Canadian version of the site. We tried to get into the Pyschic Expo, too, but they knew we were coming...

We need your recipies for upcoming newsletters

Sponsors, please send us your recipes to be featured in the Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day issues of the newsletter. Also, free brochures available for use as rebate check envelope stuffers, case inserts, trade show handouts, etc.

Recognition Whitepaper

Testing a new approach to engaging operators: a free employee recognition whitepaper advertised in NRA's Smartbrief newsletter.

Nestle UK advertising

Looking for clever advertising copy ideas? See Nestle UK's July and September trade ads and accompanying direct mail campaign letter, enrollment card and envelope.

Direct mail to support your sweepstakes

P&G's Stop the Grease, Start your Engines Sweepstakes is an excellent example. Letters are being mailed to 20,000 high value exisitng customers and prospects who profile similarly. (Of course, if you don't know who your best customers are, how they perform by segment, what their quarterly case purchases are, and don't have access to similar non-buying customers... Well you're just buying a list and hoping for results, aren't you?)

Want to reduce customer churn?

Engage them beyond their initial program activity. In this example, operators who enter their 10th code receive a copy of the popular book, Mind Your Own Business by Jim Sullivan.

What's wrong with this strategy?

McCain Foods UK has announced a scheme discounting their products with money-off vouchers. However, to call it a "loyalty" program is a misnomer - all it will teach their customers is to price-shop the category. Foodservice Rewards, by contrast, is a "gift with purchse" or brand-equity building strategy through ongoing dialogue with an recognition of your best customers.

Canadian Launch

Here's Nestle's advertisement promoting the launch of foodservice rewards at the Canadian International Food & Beverage Show, February 19-21.

Chinese New Year Promotion

See Schwan's clever Chinese New Year promotion in this week's Foodservice Rewards newsletter. With over 60,000 operator visits per month (the average operator visits www.foodservicerewards.com 1.5 times per week) driving traffic to a micro-site is a terrific tool to educate customers about your brands.

Nestle UK's Promotional Video

Nestle's UK office has produced a brilliant video promoting Foodservice Rewards. (Be patient during the download, the full video is 3 1/2 minutes long.)

Promote with an integrated landing page

Here's how to integrate more information into your promotions: Campbell's is promoting Spoon Tycoon on Foodservice Rewards with the following landing page that includes "What's New," wellness, products + Brands, Recipes & more (see tabs).

Merchandise your other properties

Here's another best practice: Leverage your investment in other brand equities by making them a sweepstakes prizes. See details here.

The Proof is in the Pudding

When Sweepstakes entrant Executive Chef Charles Rosenau of Konocti Harbor Inn and Spa won 250,000 Foodservice Rewards points, a Mediterranean cruise or $3,000 cash, he chose points - another example of how the program takes the focus off price and engages the "right brain" instead.

Chef has been at Konocti for 9 years, after spending 5 years at The Sunriver Lodge in Oregon as Executive Sous Chef. He received his culinary training "on the streets" starting in foodservice as a bus boy at age 13. His Nestle broker is Food Sales West and his distributor is Ritz Foods. According to our records, he is currently purchasing 7 Nestle brands!

Serve It Up in K-12

Frito-Lay's Serve-It-Up program provides an interesting twist on K-12 loyalty programs by awarding points for menu placements. Is this functionality FSR sponsors would like to see?


We could host a mail-in form and process entries (just like mail-in reward codes) and use the discretionary deposit feature to award points for menu, signage, advertisement, equipment or other placements that can be verified through a photo or print submission. Give us your feedback!

Pour on the Points

Here's a best practice beautifully communicated via the Foodservice Rewards newsletter: Copy links directly to Nestle's Pour on the Points sauces, bases & gravies promotion. Remember, you can communicate your promotions and assign points by operator segment and ownership type - and only invest in select audiences with the highest ROI. Give it a try today.