Blog: HEINEKEN Geo-Targeting Campaign Proves Profitable for Pubs
HEINEKEN successfully trialled a new data driven marketing (DDM) campaign, supporting customers from its Star Pubs & Bars estate with geo targeted digital media.
The campaign involved 1,325 outlets that received different communications across social, display and digital outdoor advertising, promoting brands such as Amstel, Foster’s and Strongbow.
The pilot resulted in over 125,000 pints sold, equating to £370k in additional sales in the test pubs. For every £1 of media spend, the campaign delivered an additional £5.70 in sales and reached 4M UK consumers.
HEINEKEN UK recently collaborated with its Star Pubs & Bars estate to test pilot multiple proximity data driven marketing campaigns (DDM), with the aim of increasing footfall and spend in outlets nationwide. In the 6 weeks following launch, the campaign helped sell an additional 95 pints per outlet.
Launched in June as a trial, HEINEKEN looked to utilise the latest DDM tools and techniques to drive more consumers in to on trade outlets. By promoting the availability of refreshing cold pints of Amstel, Foster’s and Strongbow on social media, digital and outdoor advertising, HEINEKEN was able to direct more consumers into Star Pubs & Bars outlets.
As the UK’s second largest pub company, Star Pubs & Bars has full nationwide coverage to engage with customers outside and arounds its outlets. Both the large footprint and customer engagement opportunity enable HEINEKEN to test, learn and scale fast in an estate that has 600,000 consumers visiting per week. As a result this provides access to a wealth of data, both on the pubs themselves and the consumers who visit them.
Three different levels of DDM were used as part of the trial, tailored to enable relevant communications and incentives. These levels ranged from age, gender and broader location targeting, to postcode based targeting and amending copy lines based on the closest pub. Interestingly, the most successful test results came from the broader location targeting. HEINEKEN plan to build on these learnings and continue to execute footfall driving initiatives in 2019.
Marc Dalla-Riva owner of Th Blacksmith & The Toffeemaker, London discusses the impact this campaign has had on his pub; “HEINEKEN UK has helped support my business with this innovative digital activation, utilising its data and the latest tools across social media. As a result of their support, we noticed a significant increase in passing trade and spend. Some customers even referred to seeing an advert on Facebook for a refreshing pint of Foster’s at our pub, so it’s great to see first-hand that these campaigns are influencing our customers. Our sales in summer were notably better and we’re excited to be a part of any future campaigns.”
Star Pubs & Bars’ managing director Lawson Mountstevens, explains the reasoning behind the campaign; “As the UK’s leading pub, beer and cider business, with over 2,900 outlets nationwide, HEINEKEN has a tremendous footprint across the country with 27m consumers never further than 3 miles from a Star Pub & Bar. In fact, we identified that over 4m Brits live within a 15 minute walk from their closest HEINEKEN pub, this pool of engaged consumers were our target for this DDM campaign.
Encouraging more consumers in to our customers’ outlets, with prompts across social media and digital has proved hugely successful and is part of our strategy of Growing Together, supporting both ours and our customers’ businesses. The results of this pilot campaign has been incredibly positive and as a result we will be looking to roll out more campaigns, with more of our customers in the year ahead.”
Digital marketing is becoming an increasingly essential tool for the UK on-trade and is a key priority for HEINEKEN UK. It forms just one part of HEINEKEN’s biggest piece of category research ever undertaken, The Greenpaper, made up of over 100 pieces of qualitative and quantitative research, predicting a boost to the UK On-trade of over £1bn by 2021.
The research uncovered six main areas of opportunity in which HEINEKEN can work with customers to grow their businesses and the category as a whole – one such driver is My Generation that looks to utilise the latest advancements in digital and social media, to encourage the online generation to visit the on trade more often.
Following this successful pilot, HEINEKEN will invest £1m next year with plans to roll further DDM campaigns out across both its Star Pubs & Bars portfolio and its wider SmartDispense customers. For more information on how your outlet can be involved, please contact your HEINEKEN sales representative.
