INTRODUCTION
The Foodland Ontario Advertising & Awareness Tracking Study* is the main brand evaluation method and provides important measures and learnings with respect to the key promotional elements in the program, primarily advertising and in-store merchandising. This year’s study involved over 1,500 internet interviews with the person identified as the principal grocery shopper in each household with primary or shared responsibility for food shopping. It was conducted in 13 Ontario markets with populations of not less than approximately 100,000 in November 2008.
This is the third consecutive year that Foodland Ontario has conducted this very thorough internet style research with a large sample of Ontario principal grocery shoppers. The findings are accurate to within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
A note about Foodland Ontario brand extension:
With a new, broader mandate to expand the program, 2008 marks the first year in many that Foodland Ontario has actively promoted an extension of the symbol from representing just Ontario fruits and vegetables to other fresh Ontario foods, including some or certain meats, cheeses, eggs, other dairy and other fresh foods. This brand extension is referenced or suggested in some elements of the dedicated Foodland Ontario advertising, in all or most of the “Pick Ontario Freshness” advertising and in many of the other domestic marketing executions. While Foodland Ontario is actively promoting the use of the logo on an expanding list of Ontario foods, the symbol in store is still largely associated with Ontario produce.
* Ipsos-Reid, Foodland Ontario 2008 Advertising & Awareness Tracking Research Report, Fall 2008.
At a Glance:
96% Foodland Ontario symbol awareness among Ontario principal grocery shoppers.
90% Principal grocery shoppers associate the symbol with fresh Ontario food.
87% Principal grocery shopper intention to purchase Ontario fresh food.
93% Ontario principal grocery shopper support for the Foodland Ontario program.
RESULTS:
• Foodland Ontario symbol recognition at 96%.
The Foodland Ontario symbol is recognized by 96% of Ontario principal grocery shoppers. This result is a very favourable one and is up notably from the 86% level reported in 2005. This figure validates the 95% symbol awareness level recorded in 2006, and over three years now suggests a new ‘benchmark’ of principal grocery shopper awareness for the brand symbol.
• Foodland Ontario symbol association with fresh Ontario food at 90%.
Of those shoppers who recognize the Foodland Ontario symbol, 90% associate the logo with fresh Ontario food: 80% indicate fresh produce while 10% associate the symbol mainly with fresh meat and dairy. Foodland Ontario brand association is clearly evolving from a produce only profile that has held steady from the late 1990’s to one that is now beginning to register as more than produce. This evolution is what we would expect given the broad brand extension activities undertaken since the early summer of 2007. Foodland Ontario remains the brand name in fresh local food for 9 out of 10 principal grocery shoppers!
• Foodland Ontario [unaided] symbol recognition on in-store signs and posters at 85%.
Again in 2008, without benefit of visual prompting, 85% of Ontario principal grocery shoppers with symbol awareness recall seeing the Foodland Ontario symbol on point of sale signs, posters and other signage in the produce section of grocery stores. Retail continues to be the number one source cited for unaided Foodland Ontario symbol recognition. This is a very high indication and consistent with last year’s level. Foodland Ontario merchandising representatives visit over 1,100 stores 11 months of the year.
• Foodland Ontario [unaided] symbol recognition on television at 76%.
Unaided Foodland Ontario symbol recall in television is up significantly to 76% from 67% in 2007 and 63% in 2006. These higher recall levels clearly reflect the weight of both Foodland Ontario and Pick Ontario Freshness television campaigns. In addition, the impact/recall of the “Good things grow in Ontario” creative from the Pick Ontario Freshness campaign has been a key factor.
• 87% of shoppers indicate an intention to purchase fresh Ontario food.
This year, for the first time, principal grocery shoppers were asked to indicate their preference for “fresh Ontario food,” and not specifically “fresh Ontario produce.” This propensity number is comprised of those who will definitely purchase Ontario produce along with those who will probably purchase Ontario produce in the future. Those who will definitely purchase Ontario produce is constant at 55%. The probably purchase threshold this year is 32%.
• Majority of Ontario shoppers indicate preference for fresh Ontario food.
This year, Ontario principal grocery shoppers indicated a preference for Ontario fresh food vs. Canadian or Value priced fresh food has maintained at a margin of 3 to 1 from a ratio 2 to 1 back in 2006. This enhanced preference for ‘Ontario’ may well have been influenced by an increase in television advertising in 2007 & 2008 related to the “Pick Ontario Freshness” television campaign.
• Foodland Ontario advertising awareness stimulates fresh Ontario food purchase intention.
Again in 2008, it is apparent that those who are aware of the Foodland Ontario advertising are significantly more likely to purchase fresh Ontario food than those are unaware of the advertising by a ratio of almost 3 to 2. This year, of those who were aware of Foodland Ontario advertising 57% indicated that they would definitely buy fresh Ontario food vs. 39% of those who were unaware of the advertising.
• Principal grocery shopper support for the Foodland Ontario program increases to 93%.
When asked, ‘Do you consider the Foodland Ontario program to be a worthwhile effort on the part of the Government?’ 93% of principal grocery shoppers answered ‘yes.’ Support for the Foodland Ontario program has been relatively high over the years, and has increased from 89% in 2007.
CONSUMER ADVERTISING, SPECIAL PROMOTIONS AND OTHER FINDINGS:
• Television Advertising Recall at 91%
Aided recall of Foodland Ontario Television Advertising is at 91%, up again from 88% in 2007 and 81% in 2006. Higher recall levels this year and last are largely due to increased media weights associated with the “Pick Ontario Freshness” awareness campaign television commercials that are co-signed with the Foodland Ontario symbol. Foodland Ontario-only television advertising (the “Time Lapse Tips” campaign) also aired with good weighting through the fall television schedule.
• Recall of Foodland Ontario in-store signage/advertising at 63%
Aided recall of grocery store advertising (in-store promotional signage) is at 63%, up from 59% in 2007. Foodland Ontario has been concentrating on point-of-sale signage that tends to feature the brand symbol rather than individualized themes. Changing and variable in-store signage guidelines from retail banner to banner influence recall levels in this area. In-store brand symbol awareness, however, is doing very well at 85%.
• Word of mouth recall of brand extension from produce-only to all-fresh is 16%.
40% of Ontario principal grocery shoppers report that they are aware that Foodland Ontario is expanding to cover all fresh Ontario foods, not just produce. Not surprisingly, Television is cited as the number one source of this information for 2 out of 3 shoppers. However, 16% of shoppers, overall, cite word of mouth from friends or work colleagues. This is quite a high percentage; we may infer that this personal information sharing could be due to the very successful “Good Things Grow in Ontario” ad jingle in the “Pick Ontario Freshness” broadcast spots.
• Other Foodland Ontario Brand findings at a glance:
~ Recall of Foodland Ontario symbol in retail grocery flyers & newspaper inserts steady at 56%.
~ Recall of prompted Foodland Ontario fresh produce radio tags up to 51%.
~ Recall of Foodland Ontario Food Terminal billboards is up to 36% in the GTA.
~ Logo recall from Foodland Ontario calendar at 22% - almost double from calendar inception in 2002.
For more information
Foodland Ontario:
1-888-466-2372
E-mail:
ontario.foodland@ontario.ca
