Branding in A Performance Era: Rethinking the CPG Media Mix

It's not every day that you meet a marketer of chicken and horse feed so Monday's Brand Insider Summit certainly was different.

As Bonnie Brannigan, Vice President, Retail Marketing, Kalmbach Feeds, Inc. (above, right), put it, "If it has a face, we will feed it." Who knew this family business could have something to share with brand marketers like Campbell, an exec from which joined Brannigan on a panel discussion.

Since a big part of selling horse feed revolves around events, Kalmbach is working with a partner to build a geofence around a venue that can capture dates and grab IP addresses of devices in that venue. Later, it can serve ads to them and engage with them after they are home. "It's going back in time and capturing IP addresses as long as six months ago," Brannigan said. "It's pretty cool. The click-through rates are interesting. We can build awareness for those people who were in the venue, and serve ads on their devices." 

The brand's affiliations with horse organizations includes the Quarter Horse Congress, the largest in the world, in Columbus, Ohio, where Kalmbach is based. "We're the office feed sponsor there. Horse feed is extremely technical and a high-research product. Think of the involvement people have with their dog's food and put it on steroids."

Kalmbach is also delving into neuroscience to peel back the reasons why people buy, why they make a decision. "We like to think the logical brain is making decisions, but it is the underlying brain driving those decisions. We're doing qualitative research to understand the need consumer has.

"The horse owner has a strong emotional bond. So what is that bond, what's at the root of it? We want to speak to those parts of the brain. It's exciting. I've been in marketing for 30 years, back when it was all about creative and pretty pictures. I love the idea that we are converging art and science now."

Tim Glover, VP, Account, Empower, moderated the panel, which also included Michael Reynolds, Digital & Integrated Marketing Manager, Campbell Soup Company.