Case Study

Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials

Background

Nestlé Canada has a diverse product offering and has strong ambition to be the leading nutrition, health and wellness company in Canada bringing Good Food, Good Life to Canadians throughout their lives.

To aid in this objective, Desperado Marketing Inc. worked extensively with Nestlé Canada to educate busy parents about the benefits of the well-established product of Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials.  The breakfast drink has been sold in Canada since 1985 and has been successful as an alternative to breakfast for people of all ages.

The Objective

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, particularly for growing children. Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials’s overall product mission is to make sure that everyone gets the nutritious delicious breakfast they deserve. Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials was the product to offer a convenient solution to what is becoming a common problem. In today’s busy world, sometimes children are not getting the necessary breakfast before heading out for the day. Parents are busy. Children are picky eaters.

Issue

Kids are not always getting a nutritional breakfast.

Solution

Encourage a healthy, well balanced diet through the promotion of Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials, a convenient breakfast drink that provides essential vitamins and nutrients in a choice of  three flavours.

Approach

In order to solve the issue at hand, a promotional program was devised that would speak directly to the parents of active children, while allowing an opportunity for sampling among the target consumers, kids.

A roving sampling team was deployed to various youth-focused athletic events in southern Ontario. Three brand and product-educated staff were on hand to encourage families to exercise regularly and to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials was introduced as a means to help achieve a well, balanced diet.

The choice of sporting events, which included soccer, baseball and football, offered a natural environment in which parents were there supporting of their children’s athletic endeavors.  It also delivered a place to find families that were always ‘on the go’.

Through a branded on-site footprint, information was provided to parents, highlighting the convenience and positive nutritional value that Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials provides. Shared values were demonstrated, noting that parents didn’t always have the time to provide a nutritional breakfast – the Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials offered a solution.

Samples were then provided to both parents and children, allowing the product to speak for it self. Three flavours were available for tasting; showcasing that delicious, convenient food can also be nutritious. The illustration of convenience was paramount – the staff provided samples from rolling coolers and Tetra-Pak packaging that were easy to open and serve. Product coupons were available for the parents, and Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials branded Frisbees for the children.

Results

A small budget promotional campaign, the Nestlé Carnation Breakfast Essentials team surpassed sampling goals by over 20%. The campaign was executed in a relevant environment that naturally promoted health and nutrition through sport activity. Thus, the target consumers were prevalent – busy parents of active children. Several of the parents were relieved to receive a product sample, as they had in fact, left home without their children having a nutritious breakfast.

This natural environment drove home the convenience of the product and on-site staff members were able to educate an engaged consumer about the benefits of the breakfast drink. With the interested parent’s encouragement, the children could then sample the product, demonstrating the ease in which they could provide essential nutrients in a drink that kids liked.

The sampling campaign aligned with three of Nestlés overall business objectives of:

Improving Canadians’ diet along life’s busy journey.

Empowering customers to make informed choices.