Mogu Mogu Drink Sampling
The Field Marketing & Brand Experience Awards
GOLD AWARD WINNER
BACKGROUND TRADING CONDITIONS
Mogu Mogu is a new drink innovation from Thailand, and blends exotic flavours & pieces of soft coconut jelly called Nata de Coco. It has achieved listings in the World Foods aisle of Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Morrisons.
Due to it’s location in the World Foods aisle it is harder to find by its core demographic vs established drinks brand competitors.
Consumer research identified that:
1. The most important factors for Millennials & Gen Z purchasing soft drinks are Great taste’ and ‘flavour innovation’.
2. 70% of shoppers do not visit the World Foods aisle during their normal weekly shop (so would not see Mogu Mogu).
With these considerations in mind, the campaign objectives set by the client were
Tour supermarkets to reach 500 shoppers with samples per day
Increase sustained rate of sales to 10 units per week.
Aim to achieve a 10% trial to purchase ratio (~50 sales p/day).
THE SOLUTION
Event Kit
- LINK designed and built a versatile set of branded event kit that could be used at a variety of events, including festivals, high street retailers and flagship supermarkets.
- Their kit initially included a branded, fun target game, sampling cart, FSDU and gazebo. It was then upgraded to include a larger dome tent and a compact spin to win game.
- All the kit was branded with Mogu Mogu graphics and visual messaging to create an eye-catching event area to attract shoppers and familiarise them with the unique brand identity.
Tour Locations
- Mogu Mogu used their sampling cart and interactive games outside flagship ASDA and Morrisons stores. This kit was then also taken to high street Sainsbury’s Local stores.
- To reach Mogu Mogu’s core audience the brand also attended aligned events, including: Wireless Festival, Bristol Balloon Festival and Insomnia Gaming Festival.
- In addition, to generate new TikTok followers and digital mailing list sign-ups Mogu Mogu also attended Freshers’ Fairs at eight major UK universities.
Enhanced Sales Conversion Strategy
- To reward shoppers who engaged and purchased on the sampling day there were on the day purchase incentives offered. These included free branded tote bags, phone popsockets, mini power banks and extra bottles of stock.
- To shorten the distance from sample to purchase, a frr-standing display unit was set up in the foyer of stores.
- The team also gifted whole bottles of stock to store staff and overcame stock display issues in store.
THE RESULTS
Shopper Feedback
- Due to it’s location in the World Foods aisle most UK consumers have not yet seen Mogu Mogu, tried it or anything like it.
- The activation was popular with everyone across the variety of events that were attended, leading to astronomical growth for the brand.
Immediate Sales Results
- Immediate uplift from 5 to 143 units sold was achieved per store per day (3,784% increase across all 35 stores)..
- Peak sales uplifts as high as over 4,000% were achieved (at Morrisons: previously 7 units to sales of 270 units).
- The activity achieved a taste trial to immediate on the day purchase conversion, of 22% (5:1 ratio).
Long Term Sustained Sales Results
- Long term Rate of Sale lifted from 5 units to 16 units (263% increase), measured across all stores weeks after sampling
- Peak long term Rate of Sales lifted from 3 to 58 units achieved at ASDA (over 2,000% sustained increase).
Festival Sampling & Sales
- Across five festivals, the Mogu Mogu sampling team distributed over 30,000 samples to attendees.
- At the four festivals where the team were able to sell as well as sample, they sold 4,799 bottles (averaging 400 sales per day).
- This equates to an average of 20% conversion rate from sampling to immediate sales per day (Vs 10% campaign objective).
University Sampling & Social Media
- The team sampled at eight university freshers’ fairs during September & October 2023 and distributed 20,000 samples.
- The team recruited 4,982 new sign-ups to the Mogu Mogu marketing & sales mailing list (peaking at 883 sign-ups in one day).
- 23% of students who tried a sample signed up to the mailing list and received free branded merch for increased brand recall.
- Gained 11,000 new followers during uni tour, a 1,471% increase on the months prior (vs a 10% YoY benchmark objective).
KPI Benchmarking
The tour massively exceeded expectations & all KPI targets:
- Tour supermarkets to reach 500 shoppers with samples per day. = 786 achieved
- Aim to achieve a 10% trial to purchase ratio of approx 50 sales per day at supermarkets. = 22% / 143 av sales
- Increase sustained rate of sales from an average of 5 units per week to 10 units per week. = 16 av sustained sales
- Generate a 10% sampling to immediate sales at festivals. = 20%
- Create 10% YoY growth of TikTok followers at freshers’ fairs. = 1,471%
- Collate at least 1,000 data sets for direct mailing at universities. = 4,982
Wider Industry Results
- 216% Year on Year Growth within UK Convenience, with sales of £11.8M (Nielsen Data NIQ, Talking Retail).
- Moved from 28th to 3rd best selling in the juice drink category (Nielsen Data NIQ, Independent Retail News).
- “Bucking a decline in overall category, cementing itself as the UK’s fastest growing soft drink brand”. (Independent Retail News).
- Finalist, Grocer Gold Awards, Soft Drink Brand of the Year
- Close up video of Mogu Mogu bottle samples were clearly shown in the crowds in the BBC 1Xtra coverage at Wireless Festival.
- Following the success of the 2023 events & 2024 retail tour, new sampling tour dates for 2025 are already underway.
“Our astronomical growth of 371% this year is a by-product of our strategic engagement with the Gen Z and Millennial communities, using sampling amplified through social media, with participation in music & gaming festivals as well as a variety of retailer events.”
Ash Chada, Sales & Marketing Director Asco Foods.