#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlight: How foodpanda's data-led creativity led to pandamart's customer growth

Foodpanda started out as a fuss-free food delivery platform dedicated to giving consumers a wallet-friendly solution. In late 2019, foodpanda decided to grow its offerings launching pandamart (then called pandanow), foodpanda’s own online grocery store with delivered on-demand, with an average delivery timing of about 30 minutes. 

Simultaneously, foodpanda launched foodpanda shops (then called pandamart), a marketplace for non-food merchant partners to retail their products on the platform, and have them delivered on-demand.

While its restaurant business remained one of the brand's most successful offerings, foodpanda remained ambitious to replicate the same level of awareness and success for its pandamart service. It wanted pandamart to be at the top of mind of its consumers.

Keeping this in mind, foodpanda launched the "Tap into everyday" campaign, which not only saw it garner success but also the gold award for Excellence in Advertising in MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards 2021.

Challenges 

While foodpanda’s new offerings were no doubt piquing customer interest and garnering positive sentiment, a large part of its consumers were still only turning to the platform for restaurant delivery services. With its brand named well established in the food delivery space foodpanda found it a challenge to introduce, and hook, consumers to the new offerings.

There were a number of customers who also were either not aware of the expanded offerings, or couldn't recognise the value the new features brought.

The situation was also complicated further by the fact that pandamart and foodpanda shops were also launched under different names. As such, foodpanda felt the need to re-introduce all the features, old and new, that the platform had to offer, in a manner which would be relatable and easy for the customers to remember. 

Strategy 

Foodpanda decided that it needed to educate or re-educate customers on the various features that were available by building awareness and creating excitement and interest to try these new features. The target audience was young to middle-aged Singaporean residents, who were likely digital natives and are already familiar with using online platforms and the value and convenience it brought.

Foodpanda derived inspiration from the word “tap” which would be what customers would be doing to access the app, but also in wanted to play on the figurative meaning to suggest an integration of foodpanda into the everyday needs and wants of customers. As such the tagline "tap into every day" was conceptualised.

From there, the visuals were designed in a straightforward manner ensuring that the various offerings that foodpanda had were presented in clear categorised blocks that were easy on the eyes, and simple to understand with just a glance.

The campaign tagline and visuals were amplified via robust communication channels, including impactful OOH, TV and video advertising, PR, influencers, and personal channels which ensured visibility across both online and offline channels.

Once interest and curiosity had been established, foodpanda needed to find a way to get customers to try the features. This was facilitated by offering new customers promotion codes that were communicated via online and offline advertising channels. These voucher codes included the tagline in different variations in order to strengthen the connection and recall of the campaign.

The combination of awareness, discounts and experience allowed customers to experience the benefit of the new features, and the value that the platform brings. This increased the reliance customers had on the platform given the convenience consumers felt.

Execution 

Foodpanda employed a mix of online and offline advertisements to showcase the "tap into every day" campaign. The campaign was launched at a time when people were slowly venturing out and restrictions were slowly lifting. By combining both out-of-home with TV, radio, and digital advertisements, foodpanda thought the campaign would have better "top-of-mind" effect for customers.

The strategy was further backed by demographic data across locations, which allowed foodpanda to have a deeper understanding of the various verticals that people in certain areas were already familiar with - and of course, the gaps that could be filled based on their habits. Using the data, foodpanda was able to strategise the OOH placements, and better curate targeting messages that amplified the "call-to-action" that foodpanda was guiding customers towards.

In addition to the OOH placements, customers would also be able to see foodpanda's short videos on TV, which would play throughout the whole campaign period of April to June. Foodpanda also leveraged radio as a tactical burst in April as the start of the campaign coincided with the Ramadan period.

This was timely as the yearly bazaar was put off due to COVID-19, and foodpanda was presented as a one-stop shop for those celebrating to gather essentials. On top of the OOH ads, programmatic ads were rolled out on popular social media channels including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Spotify to ensure maximum impact.

To cater to customers staying home to stay safe, foodpanda also published ads with Mediacorp and StarHub, including a first-time digital brand integration campaign where product placements in post-production were integrated into popular English and Chinese local dramas and included an additional instream video inventory on Twitch and meWatch. Foodpanda focused on remarketing strategies and CRM, to drive even more stickiness to the ads in order to increase the chances of click throughs.

Results

Foodpanda's "top-of-mind" for the brand also grew three points, while competitors lost three points during the campaign period. When it came to groceries, top-of-mind grew by four points, which was in line with competitors. The sentiment that the platform “delivers more than food” increased by eight points, while the top-of-mind for having the best variety grew by four points. Brand growth index on the statement “Delivers More Than Food” also showed good growth, putting the platform on par with the closest competitor.

The various voucher codes that were flashed across various ad assets also managed to garner over 11,000 new customer sign-ups to the platform, specifically on pandamart and foodpanda shops verticals during the campaign period. In terms of paid socials, foodpanda garnered over 38 million total paid impressions, and 14 million total video views. The campaign also managed to deliver 153,000 web and app sessions.