Marketers need to find customers where they actually spend their time. To reach Gen Z customers, that means finding them on TikTok.
The J.M. Smucker Company knew it needed a TikTok strategy. While Folgers instant coffee, a Smuckers-owned product, is ubiquitous across generations, the company’s research found that Folgers wasn’t even on Gen Z’s radar.
Raising brand awareness is one thing, but moving product is another. And the best way to sell to online-native customers is ecommerce.
Which is why Folgers leapt at the chance to test a retail media integration between TikTok and the online grocery delivery service Gopuff, according to Josh Williams, director of commerce marketing for Smuckers’ food and beverage division.
Does it sell?
Williams pointed to two stats that convinced Folgers to work with TikTok and Gopuff.
Nearly 50% of Gen Z TikTok users watch coffee-related content, such as product recommendations or drink recipes, according to consumer intelligence company Mintel. And, according to Gopuff, half of its shoppers are Gen Z age.
The combination of TikTok and Gopuff is crucial because of how easy the connection is made from the brand marketing on TikTok to a Gopuff page where the transaction occurs.
“We needed to meet [our audience] where they are versus trying to force Gen Z consumers to click through to Target or to Walmart,” said John Elliott, SVP and commerce lead of the Publicis agency PSOne, which has the Smuckers account.
To lean into the “impulse shopping nature of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt,” Elliott said Folgers used TikTok’s click-to-buy video overlays and Gopuff’s quick delivery platform to deliver Folgers products within 30 minutes.
Influencer-generated content
TikTok marketing has to be authentic to the audience or it’ll blow back horribly, Elliott said.
Folgers worked with TikTok to identify a creative approach that would work for the platform. It decided to use a ready-made organic TikTok trend called the “starter pack” trend, where people depict items they consider essential for themselves or their subculture.
An ad tech exec starter pack, for instance, might include a Patagonia vest, a pair of branded socks from a defunct SSP and a book titled “Three-Letter Acronyms for Dummies.”
Folgers landed on five personas it felt would resonate with college-aged consumers: student athlete, Ph.D. student, cozy night in, self-care Sunday and lazy college girl. In partnership with TikTok and the influencer marketing agency Influential, Folgers and PSOne selected five influencers to produce videos with their starter packs, all of which featured Folgers products, as well as other products available on Gopuff.
The Gen Z appeal proved successful, according to Williams, since 72% of people who made a Folgers purchase on Gopuff after clicking a TikTok link were under the age of 30.
Folgers also conducted a brand lift study in partnership with TikTok and found a 3.5% lift in post-campaign recall. Plus, the campaign contributed to a 12% sales lift for all Folgers products on Gopuff.
Retail fulfillment
In each video, a clickable overlay prompts the viewer to buy the starter pack. When clicked, the link directs to a Gopuff shopping cart pre-stocked with all of the products included in the pack.
Gopuff maintains a network of micro-fulfillment centers (MFC) for particular ZIP codes. To ensure Folgers was only reaching users that could immediately purchase the items, PSOne used TikTok’s ZIP code targeting feature to reach areas served by a Gopuff warehouse.
The pricing and makeup of the starter packs was also crafted with college students in mind.
For example, Folgers decided to promote its Black Silk K-Cups rather than its Classic Roasts because internal research revealed college-aged consumers prefer coffee pods to loose grounds. The agency PSOne also ensured the starter pack deals would meet Gopuff’s price threshold for free shipping.
During the campaign’s six-week flight, average weekly sales of Black Silk K-Cups on Gopuff increased 123%. Gopuff’s stock of the product sold out in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia within the first five days. Since Folgers had never sold the Black Silk K-Cups on Gopuff prior to the campaign, the brand felt it could largely attribute sales to the campaign, Elliott said.
PSOne is now looking for ways to apply insights from this campaign to other products in the Smuckers portfolio, as well as ways to apply similar strategies on other digital platforms like Spotify, Elliott said.
“When a brand wants to reach younger consumers, that’s usually a media or a creative messaging conversation,” Elliott said. “Oftentimes, what is overlooked is the sales channel that is most relevant to that consumer.”
