6.6 MID-YEAR SALE

Title6.6 MID-YEAR SALE
BrandEQUAL PHILIPPINES
Product / Service6.6 MID-YEAR SALE
CategoryA01. Consumer Goods
EntrantRED2 DIGITAL Singapore, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation RED2 DIGITAL Singapore, SINGAPORE
Media Placement RED2 DIGITAL Singapore, SINGAPORE
Production RED2 DIGITAL Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Tai Le RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Dao Lam RED2 DIGITAL Graphic Designer
Karl Fajardo RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Jason Joseph RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Nicole Amper RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Manilyn Tobeo RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
An Dinh RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Jayakrishnan Radhakrishnan RED2 DIGITAL Contributor
Trang Nguyen RED2 DIGITAL Graphic Designer
Son Nguyen RED2 DIGITAL Designer

Background

In May 2020, we won the Whole Earth Brands APAC digital account. Whole Earth Brands is a market leader in sweeteners and sugar alternatives and producer of Equal, the Philippines’ favourite sweetener brand. We were tasked with supporting Equal’s eCommerce during the pandemic, focusing on two key marketplaces: Lazada and Shopee. Our main objective was to retain and grow Equal’s market share throughout the pandemic, achieving an average ROAS of at least 1.75x across the campaign and maintaining Equal’s place as one of the period’s top five best-selling brands. Our challenge - the lockdown changed consumer behaviour overnight. Our audience of 25+ females is health-conscious, price-sensitive, and tech-savvy; the pandemic only accelerated this. Moreover, Lazada and Shopee are more competitive than ever before. With heavy investment from multinationals like Unilever, Abbott, and Nestlé, the platforms became a virtual boxing match. We had to outfight our competitors without outspending them.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

We launched the 6.6 2021 Mid-Year Sale on Lazada and Shopee. For Equal, helping people achieve a healthy lifestyle is all part of its brand promise, something that’s become more important during lockdown. While we knew healthy living would be at the forefront of consumers’ minds, this wouldn’t be enough on its own to cause a lasting breakthrough. Our research pointed to moments in our audience’s busy lives where sugar consumption is on autopilot. That could be morning coffee, afternoon tea, cooking a favourite recipe, or baked delight. Digging deeper, we realised these ‘autopilot’ moments often feature a mobile device in hand. After all, they are often the perfect excuse to catch up with friends, browse online, or scroll through social media. Our idea was to harness these autopilot moments. To catch our audience at that precise moment, mobile in hand, and serve them irresistible deals support a healthier lifestyle.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our research led to an insight-led, mobile-driven campaign. Our strategy was to drive behaviour change. We would achieve brand saliency for Equal sugar replacements and expand the whole sugar substitute category in the process. Our messaging must resonate with our 25+ female audience to trigger a lasting change. Once we captured their attention at those key 'autopilot' moments, we inspired action with two key strands of messaging on social media: Category Essentiality – Encouraging people to replace sugar with a new staple: Equal. Brand Superiority – Defining how Equal is better than the competition. We conducted A/B testing of this messaging not only before launch but during the campaign itself. We honed our media strategy to drive action at these autopilot moments, creating a rich mobile journey through CPAS Collection ads on Facebook. Rigorous testing and strategic media use are combined to capture our audience's attention as they scroll.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Armed with our idea and strategy, we built an interactive journey around different time windows – the exact moments when our messaging would be most potent. We combined social posts, CPAS Collection ads, and Shop-in-Shop Live Streams around these autopilot windows. We kicked off with ‘teaser’ posts, hinting at the 6.6 Mid-Year Sale, letting fans know about the time-based format of specific promotional hours, encouraging them not to miss out over the coming week of activity. We released posts covering exclusive Equal bundles and deals. The best discounts were only available at key times throughout the day, creating moments people looked forward to. We also partnered with popular healthy-eating influencers on social media, such as Mariel Padilla (3.4 million followers). By harnessing CPAS Collection ads, users browsed Equal catalogues for an average of 26 seconds. We immersed our audience in a discovery, browsing, and purchasing journey on their mobile devices.

List the results (30% of vote)

So what was the result? In short, we not only smashed Whole Earth Brand’s own targets for the campaign, we set new records for their year-on-year performance. All despite increased competition from multinational brands. We grew their daily share of sales to new levels – an impressive 42x average of daily June sales on Lazada and 23x on Shopee. To put this in context, that accounts for 47.5% of Equal’s sales across the Philippines for June 2021. All achieved in only one week. In addition, we far exceeded our ROAS objective of 1.75x, achieving an enviable reach and CTR. (You can see detailed results in the following confidential section). Crucially, we retained and grew Equal’s place as one of Lazada and Shopee’s best-selling brands. This campaign shows the power of mobile eCommerce to outfight rather than outspend when deep consumer insights, media strategy, and creative execution are combined.