Summary
Merial’s ‘Eprinex’ is a gut wormer that can reduce milk losses in dairy herds. It’s not top-of-mind as, unlike most wormers, which are primarily associated with animal health, gut worm treatment is all about loss of milk potential, therefore easily overlooked. Cows appear fine, but just aren’t as productive.
Legally only sold by vets, and SQPs (suitably qualified persons) in agricultural merchants, this latter route to market is vital to Merial.
They enjoy a strong relationship with merchants, so ensuring merchant staff engagement in the ‘Crime Scene’ campaign was a key objective, to secure high visibility for Eprinex in-store and staff understanding of the benefits of this kind of worming.
A specific SQP campaign was therefore developed with a serious educational message, but fun execution. This creative strongly mirrored the farmer communication to ensure in-store recall, but provided the trade staff with their own opportunities to understand the benefits of Eprinex and to be rewarded for creatively taking the campaign into their stores.
The Client
Merial is an animal health company, operating in both companion (pet) and production animal markets. They are well respected in the livestock vaccine market, but are probably best known for ‘Frontline,’ their pet flea treatment.
Eprinex is a gut wormer for dairy cattle, sold primarily via agricultural merchants, such as Mole Valley Farmers. It can reduce milk yield losses caused by gut worm by up to two litres per cow per day.
Strategy
Eprinex is a core product, one of the newer stars in the portfolio. Therefore the strategy is to invest in both pull and push activity to grow sales.
Sold through vets and SQPs (suitably qualified persons) in agricultural merchants, it is the latter where both the issue and Merial have the strongest voice. So SQP buy-in is critical to Eprinex sales – they can influence customers both through POS and in-store promotions and via their verbal advice.
In many ways it is growing the market too, changing perceptions about worming dairy cattle, and making the benefits obvious. Getting the merchant SQPs knowledgeable and enthused about the product’s potential is both a sales opportunity for Merial and the merchant.
Objectives
To raise SQP knowledge and confidence about gut worming and Eprinex as a way of boosting milk yield. To ensure in-store POS materials are used (Merial don’t have merchandisers) and to encourage merchant staff to generate their own displays. Another objective was to provide the SQP with sufficient, simple information to confidently sell the product.
The target audience
Ultimately, of course, the dairy farmer, but the merchant staff are the interface and therefore seen as an important audience in their own right. They are often quite young, less technically qualified than vets and need a reason to engage customers about a topic that won’t necessarily be on farmers’ radar. Having some fun and feeling valued by Merial are equally important.
Techniques
Each SQP was provided with a POS pack, neatly packaged with a kit of items for them to use and instructions on how they could create a strong in-store display. The kit included counter mats, floor stickers, crime scene tape, posters, chalk and POS guidelines, as well as technical guidelines and product literature.
Also included were cameras for them to photograph their displays and submit them back to Merial. These would then be judged and those deemed most impactful would win £500 worth of High Street vouchers for their store. A selection of photographs was also added to the Eprinex website so SQPs could see how other stores were doing – adding a competitive element to out-do rivals or even other branches from their own chain.
Usage was not prescriptive, but allowed SQPs and store teams to use their own imagination. They created high-impact displays – adding their own props, including fake cows, fields and fencing to create displays.
This illustrated how the campaign captured the imagination and achieved strong buy-in.
Timescale
Briefing: Dec 2009
Planning: Jan – April 2010
Production: May 2010
In store activity: May 2010 – Nov 2010
De-brief: Jan 2011
In conjunction with in-store activity, a campaign broke in the farming trade press promoting Eprinex, utilising the same ‘crime scene’ creative approach.
Client testimonial
“This campaign stood out as being not just creatively strong but completely integrated, with universal appeal. The trade element worked really well. We were pleasantly surprised by the lengths some stores went to and there was a definite buzz about Eprinex. It was also reflected in the sales through these stores, so it worked. In a market where it is all too easy to either bore or confuse we excited our trade partners and helped deliver a really strong result.”
Kathryn England, Product Manager – Production Animals, Merial Animal Health
