Sweet samples

As sister brand to Haribo, Maoam was introduced to the UK market in 2001 and has experienced significant year on year growth ever since, becoming one of the UK’s leading soft and fruity chew brands.  In 2011 sales continued this trend, increasing year on year by 10.6% in value and 7.8% in volume terms. Key products within the Maoam range include Stripes, Giant Stripes, Pinballs, MAO Mix, and Happy Fruttis.

In 2011 the company launched their Music Mixer campaign which was so successful that the brand extended the activity for a further two months.

Maoam brand manager, Lindsey Bevan, tells Sweets & Snacks Europe more:

1. What exactly is a sampling campaign?

“Sampling gives the consumer the chance to not only experience the product, but also connect with the brand and its values, which can speak a thousand words.

“An effective sampling campaign can increase brand awareness, reinforce brand identity and encourage the trial of new products. It can bring in new consumers as well as strengthening existing consumer loyalty.”

2. Why did Maoam decide to do a sampling campaign?

“Sampling campaigns form a key part of Maoam’s annual marketing activity. They are a great way of reaching our key audience, encouraging brand loyalty whilst also bringing new consumers into the brand. Supported by PR, both in trade and consumer titles, and social media activities, our sampling campaigns have continued to grow year on year.

“Our goal for the Maoam Music Mixer campaign, launched in 2011, was to grow Maoam’s position in the soft and chewy sector, bring new consumers to the brand and increase brand loyalty with existing consumers.  Importantly the experiential activity within the sampling campaign also reinforced the unusual pronunciation of the brand name in a fun and engaging way.”

 3. Can I have a few more details about the campaign?

“The Maoam Music Mixer was a digital Facebook and live sampling campaign. Using a specially designed soundboard, consumers were invited to get creative and come up with their own mix of music to win great prizes.

“Online, a top ten chart was selected by judges from each week’s entries, with an iPad2 awarded to the best mix each week, and dozens of goody bags, headphones and treats were given out as runners -up prizes.

“Offline, the Music Mixer was initially scheduled as a 12 week national sampling tour, which saw the team visit 10 cities distributing 800,000 Giant Stripes, one of the brand’s most popular treats. The live activity, which took place at shopping centres and leisure venues, featured a super-sized version of the soundboard, in the form of a ghetto blaster incorporating two huge music mixer touch screens. The touch screen music mixers allowed consumers to go head to head and perform their mix with the chance to win hundreds of prizes throughout the day, including headphones, retro-bags, lanyards and lots of treats.”

4. Was the campaign successful?

“The campaign was getting such great feedback from consumers, both on and offline, that we decided to extend the three month campaign by a further two months.

“Overall 25 cities throughout the UK were visited during the campaign. More than one million of our fruity chew products were sampled and over 10,000 goody bags were handed out to eager fans. In addition to the experiential campaign, 20 iPad 2’s and 200 goody bags, which included branded headphones and retro bags, were won during the online competition which was launched to support the activity.

“The first phase of the online campaign alone reached over 535,080 consumers, with more than 8,000 individual mixes created via Maoam’s special Music Mixer which attracted an impressive 37,820 listens via the company Facebook page.

“Total brand awareness reported an increase of 13 per cent. This has been one of our most successful campaigns to date. We were delighted that the fans enjoyed our campaign and are pleased that it’s given them something unique, individual and fun to enjoy. We don’t like following a crowd and with the Music Mixer our fans have had the chance to create something completely bespoke that they could share with friends whilst having the chance to win some fantastic prizes. The increase in brand awareness showed the success of the campaign and it’s been great to hear how much our fans have enjoyed it.”

5. Would you consider doing another sampling campaign?

“We are currently running Maoam’s latest campaign which is the Maoam Megatown campaign. After being inundated with requests from the brand’s 560,000 Facebook fans requesting that the sampling team visit their towns or cities, the Maoam Megatown competition was launched to offer one lucky fan the chance for the sampling team to visit their home town, distributing thousands of chews throughout their locality, and providing them with the chance to be treated like a star for a day.

“In addition to this we are also planning our 2012 sampling initiative.”