Blackmores to increase digital marketing strategies

Osborne said the brand is now on Facebook in all key markets, and is using search activities to drive traffic to its Asia websites. 

“In addition to this, each market has integrated specific digital and online activities into our traditional mass media advertising and marketing campaigns,” he told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Some of the more successful digital campaigns are Malaysia’s “Cold & Flu” marketing campaign and Thailand’s “Executive B” marketing campaigns, both of which featured a mix of traditional and online media components.

Malaysia’s “Cold & Flu” marketing campaign, featuring Buffered C, Bio C and Cold Combat, aims to drive awareness, trial and an increase in consumer base. The company launched the “Shoo away the achoo” Facebook page to address, in a fun and engaging way, the emotional distress cold and flu bring.

The campaign was promoted via display advertising on Facebook, Nuffnang and Innity, as well as social advertising on Churp Churp.

“Each market has its own specific marketing strategy, " Osborne said. "However we intend to become the market leaders in our category in each region so are focused on developing an innovative communications platform that is consumer-centric, and true to key consumer insights."

He noted that Blackmores is looking at the possibility of associating the brand with specific icons and celebrities in Asia. “We have done this quite successfully in Australia, but have not done this as extensively in Asia in the past.” Some key highlights for Asia include a partnership with Blackmores brand ambassador and champion Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe in Korea.

The brand is working with various agencies across the markets, with the main media agencies being Mindshare, Mediacom and Maxus.  For creative agencies, Blackmores is using various local agencies in all markets.

Blackmores is currently in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Osborne said the company is looking to venture into several new markets in Asia as part of its long-term growth plans for the company, but he declined to give further details on the plan and the advertising expenditure.

“While we won’t disclose our advertising expenditure, we can confirm that it has increased substantially to support the strong growth in our business," Osborne said. "We have done this to create an impactful presence and build our brand in Asia for the long term,” he added.

The brand is also looking at boosting its local-language marketing such as Chinese and Korean in some markets, which can be more important than the English marketing, Osborne said.

For the half year ended December 31, 2011 (the first half of the company's 2012 fiscal year), Asia represented 20 per cent of group revenue, an increase of 3 per cent from the prior corresponding period. For the same half-year period, sales in Asia increased 28 per cent to AUD$26 million, from AUD$20 million (a 36 per cent increase in constant currency).

Thailand, Blackmores' largest Asian market, has experienced growth of 28 per cent in local currency for the same period, despite extensive flooding in the region, and has reported an increase of 73 per cent in net profit after tax.

Overall, net profit after tax for the six-month period reached AUD$14.25 million, equal to the record the company achieved in the previous half year. Blackmores expects modest profit growth for the current financial year, despite tough retail conditions.