Competition is tough for CPG brands who often need to elbow their ways onto retail shelves and figure out how to be the number one choice in their category for consumers. When planning how to build up awareness of their products and drive retail sales, top CPG brands turn to omnichannel product sampling and exciting brand activation events such as ZOA Energy and Perfect Snacks did in partnership with Recess.
Location is important when trying to reach target consumers, so when health-conscious brands look to execute on engaging product sampling strategies, we recommend and help manage partners like Orangetheory Fitness (OTF) that can uplift campaigns as easily as they elevate fitness levels of their members for superior results.
While events at OTF are many, we’re highlighting two awesome omnichannel product sampling campaigns by energizing brands: ZOA Energy and Perfect Snacks. Check out how OTF strengthened their brand activations.
Orangetheory Fitness pumps up members with quenching samples from ZOA Energy
After high intensity workouts and sweat-drenched gym routines at Orangetheory Fitness (OTF), what would fitness studio members want to satisfy post-workout needs? A refreshing, energizing drink like ZOA Energy.
At least, that was the data-informed bet we made when we targeted OTF locations nationwide for brand activation events to build up awareness of ZOA Energy products and drive trials that would lead to in-store purchase.
And the results showed great gains for the enthusiastic energy drink brand. We executed in 18 fitness studios across the country where partnered location managers displayed branded signage with information on ZOA Energy and distributed chilled 12 oz. samples to their members. Through OTF locations and additional venue types in the campaign, more than 18,000 cans were sampled and thousands more people were reached through social media.
Fitness studio members could not get enough of the ZOA Energy drink samples! They shared positive feedback about the taste, surprise at the zero-sugar content, how quenching samples were before and after workouts, happiness at the lack of a sugar crash that other energy drinks bring, and excitement over the nutrient-rich natural ingredients.
The partnership with OTF staff greatly helped us gather so much actionable insight for the brand. We were able to share sentiments such as customer flavor preferences, notable differentiators, and what consumers valued most with ZOA Energy. We heard about when and where members kept asking for more samples, and they learned where to get more products.
Orangetheory Fitness really demonstrated their value as a spotter for ZOA Energy’s goals through their partnered omnichannel product sampling campaign.
Orangetheory Fitness keeps fitness members cool with chilled Perfect Snacks samples
Perfect Snacks partnered with Recess to achieve gains in brand and product awareness and product purchases through an omnichannel product sampling strategy. The additional twist they had for these brand activations was that they wanted to target sampling venues where chilled samples would be an absolute hit, since their products are best served cold.
(Check out more examples of cold product sampling here.)
So where did we go? To Orangetheory Fitness locations in Florida, because 1) we knew our partners would readily accommodate the logistics of chilled samples, and 2) we learned from geotargeting via the Recess data-rich platform that the members at these locations would have a high likelihood of purchasing after sampling. We also supported the onsite brand activation with digital advertising and promotion of a coupon for retailers in their area.
Throughout 10 fitness studios, the partners distributed 8,000 Perfect Bar samples and contributed to nearly 122,000 digital impressions through their networks. The members were really excited to head to nearby grocery stores to purchase boxes of the products and even shared some insights for the brand to take back to the teams, such as when they preferred to sample and which flavors they loved best.
Read more about how Perfect Snacks achieved sampling perfection in their customer story here.
Looking to pump up your product sampling strategy?
Recess has the supplements you need - data. With more than 15,000 opportunities for sampling which you can filter by consumer demographic, customer behavior, location, proximity to retailer, Recess can support unique brand activation and sampling event execution in turnkey, measurable, and scalable ways. Talk to a Recess expert to learn more.
