- A leading radio group created a highly successful advertising campaign for a major FMCG brand
- Sales of the brand increased significantly
- The client, Mondelēz, continues to invest in radio
- This compelling case has helped increase radio’s share of FMCG budgets from 1.8% to 4.2%
 Grupa RMF is a Polish radio group that reaches over 10 million listeners on a daily basis. The issue the company and the Polish radio industry in general have faced for a number of years was a lack of FMCG clients. Until 2012, the share of FMCG ad budgets in radio was on average only 1.8%. It was difficult to even get a meeting with these clients, so in order to convince them to invest in radio, RMF needed to build trust, concentrate on the client’s needs and have a clear vision of the strengths and weaknesses of radio as a medium for FMCG campaigns. Using this approach, RMF managed to get Mondelēz on board with its brand of breakfast cookies, belVita. The objectives of the campaign were to involve listeners and interact with them and to promote this modern and nutritious breakfast.
The campaign
In 2013 the belVita campaign ran during the RMF FM morning show for three weeks. The campaign included a contest where listeners sent in their recipes for a healthy breakfast prepared with the cookies. The contest generated more than 1,200 entries.
 Additionally, RMF involved a culinary blogger who was already associated with the brand in the 30-second spots and produced promos with belVita branding. Other branded initiatives included on-air conversations with the contest winners as well as product placement with moderators eating the cookies live on air while discussing them. There were also a dedicated website and display ads on the RMF FM home page.
Results and further cooperation
 The results of the campaign were impressive, and clearly demonstrated the positive impact of radio advertising. Radio generates sales and is a perfect complementary medium to TV, which is commonly used by the FMCG sector.
belVita’s market share in the cookies category rose from 1.3% to 2.9%, with 62% sales growth year-on-year, at a time when the biscuits market in general was in decline. The client was so happy with the campaign that they cooperated with RMF again in 2014, 2015 and are already in negotiations for 2016. Each year, RMF has added new elements to the campaign, bringing in sister station RMF MAXXX, online videos, Facebook campaigns and winners of the contest starring at client’s events. Most importantly, RMF used the belVita case to convince other FMCG clients like Jacobs, Unilever, Dr. Oetker and Coca-Cola to advertise on radio. In 2015, radio’s share in the FMCG ad budgets rose to 4.2%.
Why does this matter to egta members
This campaign demonstrates how a highly effective campaign for one client can generate a substantial increase in radio investments across the whole category. This was achieved by focussing on the advertiser’s needs, playing to the core strengths of the medium, finding the perfect match between the brand and the content, and adapting the campaign over time.
This approach not only ensured Mondelēz continued to trust in radio as an advertising medium, it also resulted in a great case study that has been proven to win over other advertisers in the FMCG sector. |
