Since launching in Australia five years ago Chobani has quickly become one of the most-loved yoghurt brands in the country.
Originally founded in the US in 2005, after just half a decade Down Under it now sits at number two in the yoghurt category in Australia. It's behind FMCG giant Lion Dairy & Drinks, but Chobani international general manager of marketing Damian Young has big aspirations for the brand.
“The success of Chobani Australia was built on personal recommendations. The accumulative effect has made us the number two yoghurt manufacturer in the country and we hope to be number one in 12 months,” Young tells AdNews.
“[Lion Dairy & Drinks] are big but we are hot on their heels.”
In the US Chobani, which made Greek yoghurt in America, overtook General Mills Inc.'s Yoplait last year to become the country's biggest yoghurt brand, so should Lion Dairy in Australia be worried? According to reports in the US that's a 12-year-old upstart that overtook a powerhouse brand in a short time; illustrating how shifting consumer trends are catching out the established food giants.
Young believes its winning formula is not only in its product but in the value it places on customer loyalty and service.
Each customer that reaches out directly to the brand, for example, to complain about a flavour not being available, will then receive a hand-written letter from the Chobani team.
“The biggest change I’ve seen in my career is the change to digital and automation,” Young says, adding that he believes it’s a step in the wrong direction for a brand to move away from direct communication with its fans.
“We don’t always get it right but we aren’t hiding behind the digital curtain… Would you rather a hand-written birthday card or a happy birthday on your Facebook wall?”
Young worked at rival Lion Dairy & Drinks for nearly three years before being poached by Chobani to launch the brand.
Managing director Peter Meek and general manager of sales Lyn Radford also moved to Chobani from Lion.
Initially going to market with its Chobani Greek Yoghurt pot product, the brand has since launched dips, steel-cut oats pouches and most recently, its “Flip” (pictured top right) product.
The launch of the Flip yoghurt, aimed at busy professionals, has been supported by a Snapchat campaign, including video ads and a lens filter.
While Young wouldn’t reveal the amount spent on promoting the new product, he said the investment has been “significant”.
“The Flip product has been available in the US for three years, so it’s been on our radar to launch here for quite a while,” Young says.
“Our fans have been screaming for the product, so it’s now our number one priority that they know it’s on the shelves.”
Young says the objective of the Snapchat campaign, created by its new agency Cummins&Partners, is creating awareness of the new product and how it works.
“You’ve got 4.5 million active daily users on Snapchat that we want to appeal to. Having the lens placed on the people’s faces took them through the experience of the product,” he says.
Snapchat has been working to bolster its measurement capabilities with a slate of third-party measurement deals.
Young says it’s too early to measure uplift in sales, but already sees the activation as a success due to the social sentiment around the filter.
“We are really pleased with the results so far. We are already hearing people refer to Chobani as ‘the Snapchat yoghurt’. We are monitoring the usual statistics of how many people are playing with the lens and impressed that people are playing with it for a few minutes but above all it’s the anecdotal stories that we are hearing which are most valuable because we can see the brand take on a life of its own in culture,” he says.
The Flip launch is also supported by an upcoming partnership with BuzzFeed that aims to associate the product with a cure for the 3pm slump.
While Snapchat, digital marketing and content deals are important to Chobani, its biggest marketing strategy is sampling.
“Our core marketing strategy is simple; if you make a great product, you need to get people to try it. Our field marketing team has delivered more than 1.5 million yoghurt pots across Australia in the last 12 months,” Young says.
“In this age of digital media, with people rating everything from babysitting to dog walking online, if you aren’t making a great product – there’s nowhere to hide.”
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