#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG spills: foodpanda on why less is more when engaging consumers

Foodpanda started out as a fuss-free food delivery platform dedicated to giving consumers a wallet-friendly solution. In late 2019, the company decided to grow its offerings launching pandamart (then called pandanow), foodpanda’s own online grocery store with delivered on-demand. Simultaneously, foodpanda launched foodpanda shops (previously known as 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 silver in Excellence in Media Strategy and gold in Excellence in Advertising at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021.

In an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Laura Kantor (pictured), marketing and sustainability director, foodpanda Singapore, shared how consumers are now seeking content that is authentic in tone as well as delivery. She also talked about how leveraging on TikTok and sustainability efforts will help brands attract more consumers. 

This interview was done as part of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s winners’ and finalists’ interview series for Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021. To find out more about the awards click here.

Borders and markets are now opening up. How are you leveraging this to your advantage?

Kantor: Now that the restrictions are being lifted and more people are returning to work or resuming their usual habits, we have more choices in terms of channels we can use in our campaigns.  For example, our first major campaign this year is the launch of our mascot Pau-Pau. In January for the first phase of the campaign, aligning with the easing of restrictions, we decided to go big with our OOH instalments at bus stops, train stations and outdoor digital billboards to maximise visibility. The 3D installations at City Hall and Bedok stations were our largest to date, with a giant Pau-Pau that was over two metres tall! 

Image caption: The 3D installation at City Hall train station

Similarly, for the upcoming phases of this campaign, we want to continue to find fun and creative ways to engage our customers at high footfall areas, as people return to their daily lives. We are bringing back bus wraps, and intend to inject more fun into people’s everyday commute by playing with optical illusions for our ads at MRT stations - complete with audio additions for an immersive experience of Pau-Pau’s pandaverse. 

Another way we are leveraging the easing of restrictions is by tailoring our offers to cater to not just the stay-in crowds, but also those that are heading out. For example, we decided to offer "upsized" dine-in deals for subscribers to our pandapro subscription programme during pandapro week from 21 to 27 February. Subscribers were able to enjoy up to 50% off the full dine-in menu at participating restaurants - an increase from the usual 30% that they would normally enjoy. 

What was one shift in the marketing space that caught you by surprise? How did your team pivot?

Kantor: This isn’t entirely an unexpected surprise, but we found that our customers are increasingly craving branded content that is less “polished”. Authenticity, not just in tone but also in the way that content is being presented, is fast becoming a must. We realised that TikTok has fast become a platform that brands need to be on and videos that go viral on the platform can really define the perception of a brand (sometimes even overnight)! Brands have to be willing to embrace being more playful, cheeky and even a bit of a rebel in order to connect with consumers. 

With that in mind, we are shifting the way we communicate with our customers and reaching out to them in their language. Riding on current trends is also a key in increasing the performance of our content on TikTok - which means we need to fast. Case in point - on our TikTok account, one of our best-received videos is our cheeky take on what we would feed the cast of the Netflix hit Single’s Inferno. 

Tell us one crucial learning lesson the team gained in 2021?

Kantor: The key lesson we have learnt is that less is more when it comes to engaging with our customers. Foodpanda has now grown to become a leading lifestyle platform, offering not only food but also groceries, essentials and more. When the restrictions hit, we wanted to raise awareness of all these offerings in a big way. Throughout the year, we were also running vertical-specific deals and promotions, as well as many smaller campaigns at the same time. 

As people were advised to stay home, the main channels that we could tap on were largely digital, and we found that while it kept the buzz about our offerings going, our communications were not focused and could actually be too much information for our customers to digest. 

We’ve since tweaked our marketing communications plan to scale back what we send our customers, placing more scrutiny on the necessity of every communications piece that goes out. The results since the adoption of this approach are encouraging: our open rate has doubled, our Instagram following grew by 11% since the launch of Pau-Pau, and re-shares have increased - reflecting a shift in positive sentiments towards the brand. 

What are your marketing plans for 2022?

Kantor: This year is going to be a thrilling year for foodpanda! 

We kicked off 2022 with the launch of our mascot, Pau-Pau. Pau-Pau is a first-of-its-kind brand ambassador and his fun-loving, free-spirited and cheeky nature perfectly encapsulates foodpanda as a brand. With Pau-Pau on board, we can now engage our customers in much more fun and creative ways - like creating a Tinder profile for him on Valentine’s Day! 

In the coming months, Pau-Pau will continue to champion empowerment and sustainability, and we have a couple of exciting announcements on these fronts planned. We will also be having exciting collaborations with merchants on foodpanda shops, such as limited edition bundles, exclusive gifts with purchases and co-created Pau-Pau themed offerings. 

Another focus for us this year is to grow our q-commerce business units, pandamart, shops and our subscription programme pandapro. The goal is to be our customers’ top choice when they think of ordering groceries and other home essentials online. In the coming months, we will be rolling out campaigns to incentivise customers who have not tried our services to do so, while rewarding existing customers with even more added perks to increase the value-add of the platform. 

This year is also our 10th birthday, so keep a lookout for exciting treats coming your way soon! 

What is one trend you are excited about which you think will carry on into the new year?

Kantor: We foresee that responsible consumerism is going to be a key topic for the year, as consumers become more aware of the effects of their purchasing habits on the environment and society. As a result, they are more discerning about the products they buy and the brands that they support. 

At foodpanda, we have made a conscious effort to become more sustainable and are committed to do our part. Currently, more than half of our riders use sustainable modes of transport such as bicycles, electric bicycles and walking, and we are hoping to increase this number. To do so, we have partnered with autonomous vehicle operators to explore alternative low-carbon delivery options. 

On the consumer front, we will be working harder to encourage customers to order from restaurants that offer sustainable packing and try meat alternatives. For our merchants, we offer reusable packaging for purchase at special rates. We have plans to aid them in transitioning to be more green, as part of an upcoming green accreditation we will be rolling out soon.  

Internally, we are also looking for opportunities within the business to see how we can tweak current ways of operating to become more sustainable. For instance, we are working to reduce avoidable food waste from ending up in landfills by partnering with OLIO, a mobile app for food sharing. Our initial trial at one pandamart was very successful, with over 200kg of surplus food redistributed through the OLIO app in just two months. To ramp up our efforts to support minimising food waste in Singapore, we are planning to extend this initiative to all our pandamart stores soon.