Case: Carte d'Or

“Does it pay to focus on sponsoring on television?”

To pre- and post test TV ads is a matter of course. But how much do we know today about the effects of sponsorships? A study that Zapera did recently sheds light on the effect.

When GB Ice Cream decided to sponsor the Friday night movie on Swedish TV3 during the fall of 2006 with its premium brand Carte d’Or. The question was how effective sponsoring really is compared to regular TV-ads, Louise Eriksson tells, CMI (Consumer and Market Insight) Manager Nordic at GB Ice Cream. What effect does the short exposure of a simple message have?

Zapera got the job to measure the effect. Before the sponsoring began a null measure was made in September 2006 of knowledge, attitude and buying interest for Carte d’Or. When the campaign had ended there was a follow up in January 2007 with a post measure, where the same variables were tested within the target group, women and men 20 – 50 years old.

Carte d’Or was presented as sponsor from week 36 to 52 with billboards and a 10 seconds break movie. It appeared that the knowledge had really increased, Louise tells. The goal was to strengthen Carte d’Or as a premium brand, which means showing that Carte d’Or has a little more to offer than other ice cream brands. In the post measure it was clear that Carte d’Or had strengthened its position as a premium brand, she continues.

We also clearly saw that the Friday movies on TV3 reach different people since some movies attract guys and others girls. Therefore the covering was wider than if we had put our stakes on a TV show that the viewers faithfully follow one time after another, Louise says.

To be honest you should consider that the entire effect does not necessarily come from the sponsorship. We have actually improved the packaging design. Additionally we had a lot of focus on the stores where we had a series of activities.

The total effect was a massive increase in the sales numbers. We will continue our focus on sponsoring, Louise sums up.

Source: Zapera News, Issue 26, April 2007