Stew Leonard’s began as a small dairy store in 1969. Today, Stew Leonard’s is a $400 million dollar business with more than 2,000 employees. The company has received worldwide acclaim for excellence in customer service and was selected to FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” list for ten consecutive years. To further their growth, the company was on a mission to reach out to the local and regional Hispanic communities.
CHALLENGE
Stew Leonard’s had not advertised to the Hispanic community in the past, so they didn’t have strong brand recognition within this growing and influential consumer market. Right now, Hispanics are driving the growth across all industries. But specifically pertinent to Stew’s, is the fact that Hispanics spend over $175 more on fresh food per purchase than the average individual. This was a huge business opportunity for Stew Leonard’s to increase sales, traffic, and revenue. To do so, they needed to learn how to implement a more effective multicultural approach.
STRATEGY
Stew Leonard’s hired TGA to develop and promote its first Hispanic marketing campaign. Focusing on a culturally relevant strategy and approach, we started by creating the tagline of the campaign, “Fresco, como a ti te gusta” (Fresh, the way you like it). The tagline represents the freshness of the products that Stew’s carries among all stores from farm to table. We created culturally relevant messaging that resonated with Hispanics more effectively and gave the campaign a strong presence on radio, digital, outdoor, social media, and direct mail. To support this campaign, we also developed a mobile friendly Spanish microsite.
RESULTS
Our campaign efforts immediately started generating a significant increase in Hispanic traffic and sales during the first 2 weeks. Numbers continued climbing as we further engaged with this growing new audience.
Our digital results proved just how effective the right approach can be. The Instagram and Facebook top posts by engagement were exactly on-par with each other. This shows that each social media outlet audience connected with the same type of content, regardless of platform. That is huge! It means culturally relevant messaging is exactly what our audience wants to see.
Through radio, digital and social media, we delivered over 4.4 million impressions within the first 6 weeks of the campaign. Hispanic impressions increased over 22%. The excitement this initiative generated was incredible—from traditional and digital advertising to the radio platforms and in-person at store remotes. Throughout the campaign, customers were excited to participate in the store radio festivities, such as raffles and celebrity DJ photo- ops with Gloria B. Gloria’s radio station 93.1 Amor, which has a strong presence within the Hispanic community. Plus, the store manager and staff unanimously agreed these live events attributed to higher traffic and sales during these live remotes. The right approach connected everyone and set the company up for future success. This case study once again exemplifies TGA’s strategic strength in holistic multichannel marketing outcomes.
