How HiPRO tapped into TikTok and Circana to supercharge sales and overcome seasonality

The Objective

At the end of 2023, HiPRO, Danone’s protein yoghurt brand, chose TikTok to boost brand consideration as well as push conversion, to overcome seasonality. The company aimed to increase sales all year (especially during winter) by launching a multimedia campaign using TikTok as the core platform.

The Solution

To make a significant impact on the business, a comprehensive, 360-degree strategy was developed to address all critical elements for success. Recognizing the paramount importance of creativity on TikTok, HiPRO decided to engage creators. To support the brand in this regard, TikTok implemented TTCX, an exclusive program that connects brands with TikTok creators to produce high-performing content for the campaign. In terms of planning, a bundling approach was adopted, combining both premium branding products (TopFeed) and efficient in-feed video (Auction Reach and Focused Views).

To effectively measure the impact of the campaign, incrementality tests were conducted, assessing upper-funnel KPIs through a Brand Lift Study (BLS) and lower-funnel metrics through a Geo-lift study conducted with an external partner, Circana. This involved excluding four geographies from the campaign to create a control group for performance comparison between exposed and unexposed groups.

The Results

The results achieved across all stages of the funnel were remarkable and helped HiPRO boost sales during a period of low seasonality. Awareness metrics showed a significant positive increase over the control group, exceeding industry benchmarks and reaching an impressive x2.1 in ad recall, a x2.6 in awareness, and x7.4 in brand association versus Italian norms. Furthermore, the Geo-lift analysis showed a 7.1% increase in sales lift, with a highly positive ROAS of three times the Circana benchmark.

In addition, the incremental sales study not only served to measure the causal impact of the TikTok campaign on sales, but also informed media mix modeling, highlighting TikTok as a highly effective channel to include in future marketing strategies to drive incremental results with positive ROI.