Striata's eMarketing Services Score Sweetly with Canderel
- Published on Monday, 02 October 2006 01:28
Striata e-marketing manager Mia Papanicolaou said the strategy was developed in full consultation with Jason Frichol, group brand strategist at Canderel's distributor in South Africa, MeriBrands, for an e-marketing campaign designed and structured to complement and reinforce the conventional off-line marketing programmes and competitions.
"The website encourages interaction and participation by consumers. It is Lifestyle orientated and achieves a high degree of interactivity that is building up a significant email database for Canderel," said Papanicolaou. "Within two weeks of opening the interactive website, the email database grew from zero to 4 500 and a consistent growth has been maintained since then. "
She added that many of Striata's e-marketing solutions are amalgamated on the Canderel website as part of its goal to maximise return on investment for clients throughout the electronic communication lifecycle.
Visitors to the Canderel website are able to register to receive emails, enter competitions carrying attractive prizes and forward health/lifestyle questions (the best, with the answers, end up being posted on the site for the benefit of other visitors). It encourages participation and response.
"The South African site is unique as it is the first of Canderel's global websites to embrace and raise the interactive functionality of its website so that it is constantly changing and never boring, encouraging consumers to return. This is a reflection of our commitment and strong belief in digital and on-line marketing".
Movement on the website is tracked and analysed, providing strategic information of benefit to the company. When emails are sent to the database, hits on the website increase almost immediately by as much as 40%. Papanicolaou said MeriBrands can then make an accurate judgement on the success of each marketing promotion.
Frichol commented that South Africa is a unique market in the context of Canderel internationally. "Canderel in South Africa holds the biggest market share of any single country worldwide and is considered a shining light within this global enterprise."
He added that market research had established that the bulk of Canderel users in South Africa are connected to the Internet and cellular networks for SMS and MMS.
"We are dealing with a digitally literate market and that has opened up opportunities for us to very effectively connect with and communicate to our consumers because we have available such immediate and direct channels in the form of telephony, email, Internet and mobile technology."
He said Striata's eMarketing and strategy services division had provided resources and know-how using its own specific technology modules that considerably reduced costs for MeriBrands. "This synergy between good technology and good resources has delivered cost-efficiency and Striata's marketing expertise has been a great help as it also freed up resources for us.
"A full solution to our needs was delivered in record time. Within a month we had a web-site in place, an electronic newsletter, email campaign management, a subscription module, a profile management system, a polling module for spot polls and mobile marketing platforms. A second phase brought in online event management and 'viral' marketing in which emails are passed on to other consumers."
The Canderel website has been converted into a dynamic entity. Frichol said it now develops and evolves through consumer response and can quickly be adjusted. "We have our own online nutritionist, there are competitions and a questions and answers facility - visitors get real value from the site. It is clean, clear, simple and highly interactive and it is making a difference for us."
"Striata is responsive, professional, and easy to work with. No matter what challenges arise, Striata always finds a resolution quickly. Its eBill solution has been well received by our clients."