Loyalty360 caught up with Jeff McLemore, Vice President of North American Marketing for Sunsweet, for an informative interview about the company’s successful customer engagement and customer loyalty strategies.
Sunsweet was founded nearly 100 years ago, so how does your team stay relevant and engaged with consumers?
McLemore: We use direct advertising. TV is definitely our main lever and we have seen good response with TV creating awareness, reminding people about prunes and juice, and elevating the nutritional aspect. Convenience, snacking, and using all those pieces in advertising have been positive. We also look at three to four new product launches a year across our brands. In stores, secondary displays get the product to gain visibility. Our PR agency touts any studies on research and helps identify key times to promote healthy eating or digestive health or bone health and a wide variety of those key themes.
Do you still market the product the same way today as in the past?
McLemore: With regards to the demand in the consumption patterns, we definitely have increased household penetration in the last decade. But we’re always at the mercy of the seasonal supply. And we have had to be aggressive with the price and strategic with the advertising. Our business as a whole has been steady. We also have the prune juice business. And that has been steady as well, and on an upward trend.
What are some of your innovative products that are creating customer loyalty?
McLemore: Our biggest product launch in the last decade is a product that’s individually wrapped called Sunsweet Ones. The research shows that people like to keep them in their purse, or in their car, and their hands don’t get sticky.
On the juice side, we’ve introduced a lighter version of prune juice for consumers that have to limit calorie and sugar intake. Then we have a fresh plum juice, which extracts the juice directly from the plum instead of the usual process that involves drying and cooking. This has been a positive item with the boomer segment. It’s a crisp, cleaner, redder tone with a cranberry color. It’s a nice sweet juice. It’s been appealing.
We also launched a diced product called Plum Amaz!n, which are diced prunes. They are great to add to salads, cookies, and breads. They’re a really nice versatile product. Dieticians say it’s so much easier to sprinkle them on salads, oatmeal, and cereal. And those are key items that appeal to younger demographics.
Are you looking to make any changes to build more brand loyalty with millennials?
McLemore: You have to evolve, and we certainly are involved in social media and we work with our advertising agency. We try to promote customer engagement among younger consumers on a consistent basis. We’re always looking at what’s going on in the social media world to ask – are we are relevant? Are we engaging? You want to innovate, educate and advertise to be relevant and impactful.
The younger consumers are certainly looking for all natural products. They do the research and they understand Sustainability, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), gluten free foods and glycemic index, to which Sunsweet has a very positive portfolio with key topics on the minds of consumers.
How do you listen to the audience to create customer engagement?
McLemore: We do a lot of research and we look at new concepts. We had a brand equity research study done early last year where we ran through concepts to see what resonated most across age groups. We also worked with our internal and external development folks to study consumption trends and how they cross-indexed.
We have seen positive responses with creating awareness, driving trial and reminding people about the nutritional aspect of prunes. Convenience, snacking, and ingredient usage are all highlighted in our advertising campaigns and have proved to be positive with consumers.
We want the consumer to feel good about our products, and not have the guilt that comes with consuming the implied healthy products in the market. We really feel fortunate to grow a product that’s naturally healthy for today’s consumers.
Do you have a formal loyalty program for growers or consumers?
McLemore: Certainly with our growers. We have quarterly meetings that our executives attend to talk about the business and to keep farmers informed. On the consumer side, we do a monthly newsletter that features the latest health trends, new recipes, and monthly sweepstakes. On social media we also promote active engagement with online coupons.
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.