SOURCE: Alice.com
Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturers Take Control of Product Sampling Campaigns on Alice.com
Manufacturers Selling Through Alice.com Platform Can Now Execute Their Own Sampling Campaigns to Maximize Advertising Accountability and Consumer Value
MIDDLETON, WI--(Marketwire - October 1, 2009) - Alice.com today announced a first-of-its-kind digital sampling program that allows consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to control the entire product sampling process -- from defining a specific target audience to converting delivered samples into ongoing sales. The Alice.com sampling program is the first of many advertising programs to be launched within the Alice.com platform, and represents one of the ways in which CPG manufacturers are using Alice.com to directly connect with their end consumers and gain greater accountability from their advertising.
"Sampling has traditionally been a hit-or-miss use of our advertising dollars because of the difficulties in measuring who received a sample and whether the sample resulted in a sale," said John Mullins, president and CEO of Sun & Earth, an all-natural, non-toxic cleaning products company. "Using the Alice.com platform, we can now leverage a rich set of data to pinpoint which consumers receive our samples, make it easy for those consumers to buy the product from us, and precisely measure whether the campaign is actually working. It's a great way for us to treat our customers as individuals and make sure we are spending our advertising dollars wisely."
Product samples under the program are specially packaged within Alice.com boxes and shipped free to the customer's door as part of standard deliveries. "Both large and small manufacturers now have the ability to bring their product sample right into the homes of specific users," said Brian Wiegand, CEO and co-founder of Alice.com. "The manufacturer gets an engaged user, and the consumer gets a new product that is directly relevant to his or her life. It's a win-win that is dramatically better than the traditional method of blasting out a mountain of untargeted samples to an undefined audience and guessing whether the samples had any impact."
"By using the Alice.com platform to deliver product samples, we've been able to eliminate the guesswork from our sampling efforts, and more directly connect with the consumers we want to reach in a way they find valuable," said Jeff Carducci, national sales director of derma e, a maker of skin care products. "For the first time, we can confidently measure whether our samples are reaching the right people and result in increased sales and brand loyalty."
Alice is celebrating the launch of its free sampling program with a special consumer campaign. Beginning now through October 31, consumers may find an iPod shuffle, Flip video camera, free movie rentals and more in their Alice box, in addition to targeted free product samples.
The sampling program is available to Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturers now at www.Alice.com.
About Alice.com
Alice.com is a new online retail platform that better connects manufacturers and consumers in the giant consumer packaged goods (CPG) market. The company's shared industry platform enables CPG manufacturers to sell goods direct to consumer and gain an immediate direct response capability for all of their marketing and advertising spending. Co-founders Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire have an entrepreneur track record that includes three previous start-up successes: Bizfilings.com (sold to Wolters-Kluwer in 2001), NameProtect.com (sold to Corporation Services Corporation in 2007), and Jellyfish.com (sold to Microsoft Corporation in 2007).
