Advertising Promotion Frozen Ready Meals UK

                         

Frozen Ready Meals - UK -Advertising and Promotion

ABOVE THE LINE

FIGURE 18: Main monitored media advertising expenditure on ready-to-eat frozen meals, 2000-05

	£000s	Index	% of sales
2000	10,979	100	1.7
2001	20,773	189	3.2
2002	14,037	128	2.1
2003	13,702	125	2.0
2004	12,910	118	1.9
2005	15,927	145	2.6

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research/Mintel

In this market 2001 was a bumper year for spending with Findus, Unilever and Heinz all advertising extensively in this market. Above-the-line spend on frozen ready meals has been less than 3.5% of total sales for a number of years. The market sees limited investment in part due to the pressure on prices generated by ongoing discounting which has effectively depressed potential returns on advertising investment and forced manufacturers to fund further promotional campaigns.

TV dominates

Of the advertising which does take place, television is the favoured medium. This fits with a tendency towards medium to high television viewing amongst the buying base. TV is still by far the most powerful medium to gain mass-market awareness; with a number of well-known household brand names, TV is essential to deliver the brand fame and excitement to keep any market in the forefront of the mind of consumers.

Press also plays a key role although much of this can be targeted, for example the advertising of Weight Watchers meals in slimming magazines. Consumer brands are increasingly investing in data capture to develop a more focused relationship with customers and this will boost spending in areas such as direct mail.

Unilever supports the frozen sector

As the manufacturer brand leader in the frozen food category Unilever’sBirds Eye brand also tops the above-the-line spending league not only with Unilever but also with joint promotions run with various retailers.

FIGURE 20: Main monitored media spend on ready-to-eat frozen meals, by major spender, 2003-05

Company	Brand	2003	2004	2005
Findus	Frozen Food range	484,152	25,109	9,143
Marlow Foods	Quorn Cottage Pie		5,461	47,338
Oriental Express	Meals range	328,916	10,815	82,665
Patak’s	Frozen ready meals		22,989	12,021
RHM Frozen Foods	Bisto frozen food range			3,738
Unilever UK	Birds Eye chicken curry	195,758		264,339
	Birds Eye curries			812,744
	Birds Eye kids meals range		19,160	21,404
	Nutrition mission		399,057	644,325
	Product range	3,363,219	12,840	7,722,591
	Ready Meals range		10,430	9,445
	SteamFresh food range	103,635	19,862	2,975,798
				34,745
Retailers
Sainsbury’s	Birds Eye frozen food		27,512	46,905
	Frozen food range	197,669	157,761	209,118
	Frozen meals	1,967		124
	Indian takeaway range	34,239	6,892	900
Iceland	Birds Eye range		179,607	148,003
	Good Choice range			32,225
Asda	Frozen food range	193,630	76,865	35,911
Farmfoods	Range		-	34,455

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research/Mintel

Frozen is the best way of preserving

In 2004 Birds Eye undertook an extensive campaign for its full portfolio from July repositioning products as more natural and free from additives. Executions featured live animals and produce to emphasise the fresh aspect of ingredients and the use of freezing as a natural, chemical-free preservative. The strapline for the campaign was ‘We don’t play with your food’. As well as television advertising other activity includes poster and press work. From September 2005 Birds Eye backed its ‘real food’ positioning with an in-pack giveaway. Using the strapline ‘We don’t put colours or flavours into our food – so you’ll only find real £5 notes in our packs’, the aim was to raise awareness of the brand’s health credentials.

A Birds Eye nutrition mission

Also during 2005 Unilever used its Captain Birds Eye character to raise awareness of the additives used in some ready meals but excluded from the Birds Eye range. Television advertising highlighted the brand’s ‘nutrition mission’.

Steaming ahead

Unilever spent £1.5 million in developing a standalone website for the Birds Eye SteamFresh brand in autumn 2005. This backed a ‘Don’t let the goodness out’ above-the-line campaign in magazines and with door drops. The site captures consumer data through a competition to win a weekend spa break and particularly targeted 25-35-year-olds.

Future concerns

The performance of Birds Eye and the frozen ready meals market as a whole are intertwined. Alone Unilever’s support for the Birds Eye brand accounts for 78% of the total spend in frozen ready-to-eat meals. This will prove to be a huge void as any potential suitor for the Birds Eye brand is unlikely to be able to afford the brand the same financial muscle and marketing sagacity as a food giant such as Unilever.

Young’s heritage

From January 2006 Young’s Bluecrest undertook advertising for its full product range with a campaign showing the from ‘sea to plate’ of products. The executions emphasise sourcing from 30 countries with seafood being processed in the UK. Television advertising was also to take place in bursts during the year, backed with print executions.

Linda McCartney offers wine

In February and March 2005 Heinz offered a free bottle of wine in an on-pack promotion for its Linda McCartney meat-free range. Consumers had to collect four tokens to claim a free bottle of Kumala wine together with a free Wine & Dine guide containing advice on matching the range of meals with different wines.

BELOW THE LINE

Below-the-line activity headlines in the frozen ready meal sector. Multibuy offers and introductory as well as ongoing ‘special prices’ are a strong feature.

Price, price, price!

There is some seasonality to activity in particular categories. For example the New Year dieting season offers retailers the chance to promote own-label healthy eating ranges and encourage sales through money-off deals. In January 2006 Waitrose, Tesco, Asda and M&S were among those adding to or promoting better-for-you brands. For Waitrose this included the use of interactive television commercials while Asda offered special priced multibuys and money off until 20 February.

Many retailer products are offered on ongoing multibuy discount. For example Asda customers had the option to buy six frozen meals from a selection for £4 while Sainsbury's shoppers could choose four meals for £5 and Tesco shoppers could choose five selected meals for £4 or four or five meals for £4.50, dependent on recipe, in February 2006.