Sampling is one of the oldest tricks in the marketing book, but often it becomes an exercise in handing out products to people and never seeing the impact of the investment. Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and Kellogg's are among the first Australian brands to take up a new service that aims to turn sampling into a highly targeted marketing channel using a subscription model.
Local brands including SPC, Green's and Saxa Salt are also signed up.
RedPawPAw launched in Australia in May and currently has 10,000 subscribers signed up to receive samples from FMCG brands. They pay $5 a month to receive $30 worth of samples and can set up a profile to choose the kind of products they want to receive.
Brands can target a specific audience and also receive qualitative and quantitative feedback as well as consumer insight from people who tried the product.
Redpawpaw also works with GeoTribes to offer brand owners geo-demographic segmentation. GeoTribes maps subscribers onto a matrix of Social Status and Lifecycle Stage and matches them with its 15 archetypes to help marketers and brands engage the right audience.
Subscribers are encouraged to post reviews of products on social media to drive word-of-mouth.
The subscription box sampling model is gaining traction in the US and UK and services like Bella Box already cater to the beauty and cosmetics market in Australia.
The aim is to help brands get their products into consumers homes to encourage trial and increase switching between established brands.
A lot of brand choice in FMCG is habitual and people continue to use the same brands they have always done, and are loath to risk buying a product they haven't tried. Trial is a powerful way to break the habit.
RedPawPaw founder Sarah Costin said: “This is about learning more about Australian families’ consumption habits and preferences and improving the products in response. Testimonials are one of the strongest forms of marketing as consumers place a lot of value on the opinions and recommendations of their peers”.
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