TMCNet:  A Link to the Future of Shopping: Hillshire® Brands Company Drives Sales with Beacon Program In Partnership with BPN and inMarket

[July 23, 2014]

A Link to the Future of Shopping: Hillshire® Brands Company Drives Sales with Beacon Program In Partnership with BPN and inMarket

NEW YORK --(Business Wire)--

Hillshire Brands Company, in partnership with BPN and inMarket, has announced early results of its new national in-store mobile campaign that utilized emerging beacon and geofence technology to drive sales and awareness for its Hillshire Farm® American Craft® Link Sausages. This is the first time that a CPG has released data about the impact of beacon geofence technology against key brand metrics. BPN, the Hillshire Brands Company media agency of record, designed and implemented the campaign in partnership with inMarket's Mobile to Mortar™ (M2M) platform, which is the largest beacon network in the world.

The campaign, which leveraged new beacon technology to speak to consumers on their personal devices as they entered a store, delivered a 20x increase in purchase intent by those exposed to messaging, which is a 500% increase over the CPG average for mobile ad engagement. This data is consistent with a previous inMarket study, released in June, that showed consumers are 19x more likely to engage with an advertised product in-store after receiving an in-store engagement.

American Craft also experienced a 36% increase in brand awareness and a lift in overall sales. The campaign, which ran from April-June 2014 across the top 10 U.S. markets, achieved 6,000 in-store engagements in its first 48 hours.

"We started experimenting with location-based technologies and increased focus on mobile a year ago, recognizing that location is key to engaging with our consumers," said David Ervin, Director of Integrated Marketing for Hillshire Brands. "We are excited to pave the way in the beacon space and change the conversation CPG brands are having by challenging the market."

Having identified that the target consumer for American Craft Link Sausage was less likely to bring in and redeem traditional print coupons in stores, Hillshire Farm, BPN and inMarket designed a mobile-first campaign that leveraged beacon and geofence technology to identify potential customers' in-store and serve them relevant, timely information that they could use immediately to shop. Consumers were alerted of American Craft in-store, and were offered them the opportunity to add the product to their shopping list, earn points for engaging with the product or coupons for purchase.

"At BPN, we employ a Radical Commonsense approach to find new and improved ways to best reach conumers in non-traditional manners, to further our clients in market," said Chris Hiland, Chief Strategy Officer, BPN. "By engaging with shoppers while they are in-store in a timely and relevant manner, we are elevating the conversation past seeing a traditional advertising to shifting the discussion to include our clients into consumers everyday actions."

"We've been partnering with the world's most forward-thinking CPGs and agencies to drive increased sales via mobile-at-retail since 2010. Now, we're using that experience to provide 40 million beacon-enabled shoppers with a better in-store experience," said Todd Dipaola, CEO, inMarket. "Hillshire Brands and BPN are two of the most innovative companies with how they market to their consumers, we love expanding the frontiers of mobile with partners like them."

About BPN

BPN is a full-service planning and media buying agency that is part of the IPG Mediabrands global network. Fueled by our Radical CommonSense business philosophy, our mission is to build audience engagement across all touchpoints by pro-actively managing the client's media investment and constantly adjusting to market conditions. BPN currently has 36 offices in 28 countries, partners with more than 200 clients worldwide and manages over $1 billion in annual billings. For more information please visit www.bpnww.com or follow us @bpnworldwide.

About IPG Mediabrands

We were founded by Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG) in 2007 to manage all of its global media related assets. Today that means we manage and invest $37 billion in global media on behalf of our clients, employ over 8,500 diverse and daring marketing communication specialists worldwide and operate our company businesses in more than 130 countries.

A proven entity in helping clients maximize business results through integrated, intelligence-driven marketing strategies, IPG Mediabrands is committed to driving automated buying, pay-for-performance and digital innovation solutions through its network of media agencies including UM, Initiative, BPN, Orion Holdings, and ID Media. Its roster of specialty service agencies including MAGNA GLOBAL, Ansible, Mediabrands Audience (News - Alert) Platform, Mediabrands Publishing, IPG Media Lab, Ensemble, and Identity offer technologies and industry moving partnerships that are recognized for delivering unprecedented bottom line results for clients.

About inMarket

inMarket runs the world's largest mobile shopper marketing platform, and built the world's largest beacon network via its Mobile to Mortar™ (M2M) platform for apps and retailers. By reaching consumers at the perfect time through the world's most popular shopping apps, inMarket delivers engagement when it matters most and dramatically lifts client sales. Clients such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, Levi's, NestlĂ©, and Procter & Gamble have launched hundreds of successful in-store campaigns with inMarket. M2M beacon-capable apps include Key Ring, Epicurious, Zip List, CheckPoints and List Ease. For more information about inMarket, please visit www.inMarket.com.

About Hillshire Brands

The Hillshire Brands Company (NYSE: HSH) is a leader in branded, convenient foods. The company generated approximately $4 billion in annual sales in fiscal 2013, has more than 9,000 employees, and is based in Chicago. Hillshire Brands' portfolio includes iconic brands such as Jimmy Dean, Ball Park, Hillshire Farm, State Fair, Sara Lee frozen bakery, Van's Natural Foods and Chef Pierre pies, as well as artisanal brands Aidells, Gallo Salame and Golden Island premium jerky. For more information on the company, please visit www.hillshirebrands.com.


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