Ho Ho Hold the Lactose

Best Sampling Program or Trial Recruitment

Ho Ho Hold the Lactose
Agency: The Zucconi IDEA Agency, Inc.
Client: Valio USA

Valio USA felt that the lactose-free milk category was cluttered with confusing messages and similar products. Valio felt it had a genuine product innovation to talk about – its Real Goodness brand of lactose-free milk is made using a patented process that retains real milk taste and creaminess, while improving the nutritional value. The challenge was getting that message out to its niche audience; lactose-intolerant consumers had become desensitized to the taste promises of the other brands. Valio needed to cut through the clutter. The agency felt the best way to achieve its client’s goals would be by getting the products into their hands. Once they tried it, the difference, the agency felt, would speak for itself.

The holidays were coming, and who knows more about milk than the man who downs a glass at every home he visits on Christmas Eve? So they came up with a headline that mashed up a holiday message with their own: “Ho-ho-hold the lactose!”

They chose 15 busy malls throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic region on the busiest shopping weekend of the year – the weekend before Christmas 2009. It gave the brand the opportunity to reach the greatest number of people with their message.

And as luck would have it, Nestlé USA was baking and distributing Toll House cookies that weekend, and the Zucconi IDEA Agency obtained permission to put Valio’s Real Goodness milk sampling table right next to it. The connection was immediate and irresistible: an almost-instinctual response that attracted consumers in droves, and powerfully reinforced the brand's “taste” message.

More than 50,000 Real Goodness samples were delivered that weekend which elevated brand awareness among lactose-intolerant consumers and their families and generated meaningful market share growth.

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