CASE STUDY: How FrieslandCampina’s digital shift scored with Vietnam’s mothers

Background

Vietnam is experiencing something of a ‘baby boom’, with a third of households having children under 3 years old.

Dairy manufacturer FrieslandCampina, which sells the milk powder brand Friso, found that reaching parents online had become both an absolute necessity and a challenge. As parents are bombarded with many different messages across media, it can be hard for companies to cut through the noise.

“It was increasingly difficult and costly to communicate brand differentiation and get new customers at scale,” said Mark Voncken, marketing director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam.

As parents, especially mothers, are one of the most digitally active audiences in Vietnam, the company looked at its media strategy and realised it was operating with a split between digital and traditional media that no longer made sense. 

“We saw an opportunity to test different ways of reaching our target by investing more into digital channels that are cost effective, scalable and—most importantly—measurable,” Voncken said. “Also, we needed to get our teams to work as a whole, looking at our consumers' behaviour as one across channels, especially when it came to mobile channels.”

Execution

FrieslandCampina Vietnam created a mobile-friendly website providing detailed information on nutrition, tips and tricks for parents and even a pregnancy guide to engage and give answers to common questions.

The company ran display network and search ads leading to its website by serving relevant ads next to content moms were looking for in key moments throughout their day. By targeting the relevant audience, the company reached more engaged consumers whose interest spilled into in-store buying.

FrieslandCampina Vietnam extended the strategy by placing its TV ad on YouTube to expand the brand awareness, and chose the skippable TrueView format so it would only pay for actual views.

Results

With Google's platform, the company was able to measure campaign effectiveness in real time and reach more consumers cost effectively. Compared to the same period last year, it gained 147 percent new customers, site visits increased more than four times, and engagement increased 3.5 times.

The company achieved its highest market share ever, and since April 2016 has become the No 1 premium brand with the strongest “brand health”. The brand moved up the rank to become the top-of-mind, premium brand to mothers for two of its most important brand attributes: ‘digestion’ and ‘immunity.’

FrieslandCampina’s transformation to a cross-channel approach, to connect with consumers across all platforms in Vietnam has been adopted as a company-wide best practice.

“We’re looking forward to sharing this approach to other FrieslandCampina’s members in Asean countries,” said Voncken. “We want to continue to lead with digital as a core part of our strategy to connect with audiences at the right time, with the right content.”