Anchor Sour Cream 'Make Amazing'
Lactalis Mainland Dairy leveraged customer basket insights to unlock new cooking usage, driving category market share leadership across Woolworths.
new & reactivated customers
market share growth
online weekly sales
The Objective
Lactalis Mainland Dairy set out to reverse a declining category penetration trend and position Anchor Sour Cream as an essential cooking staple across Woolworths New Zealand.
The campaign aimed to acquire and reactivate 20,000+ targeted customers, intercept high-intent buyers across complementary categories (Mexican, Produce, Deli), and drive market share growth through occasion-led meal inspiration.
The Insights
The New Zealand sour cream category was facing declining customer penetration. By analyzing 12-week purchasing behaviours across lifestage segments, key growth opportunities were identified across custom lifestage profiles while transaction data revealed that sour cream functions as an occasion-driven ingredient rather than an everyday staple, paving the way for targeted growth.
The Solution
Lactalis Mainland Dairy deployed an insight-led, occasion-based campaign across Woolworths that delivered targeted meal inspiration and positioned Anchor Sour Cream as an essential ingredient for occasion-led cooking across physical and digital shopping journeys.
Cross-Category Digital Targeting
Search branded tiles and search banners targeted high-intent food searches across multiple categories while cross-category targeting captured impulse occasions and built broad scale.
Precision Everyday Rewards Insight
Hyper-targeted digital media across Woolworths online platforms, powered by Everyday Rewards connected with high value customer segments.
Omnichannel Connectivity
Sour cream is rarely bought in isolation so instead of single-aisle positioning, Anchor constructed a digital-to-shelf journey using omnichannel touchpoints to meet shopppers at multiple decision points with inspiration.
The Results
Connecting high-intent digital search with targeted in-store inspiration, the activation generated over 14 million total online impressions and reached over 1 million Everyday Rewards members, delivering standout engagement.
Awarded Best Use of Customer Insight, Lactalis Mainland Dairy’s insight-led strategy proved how first-party insights unlocks category growth:
Historic Market Share Expansion: Expanded total market share significantly, delivering a +5% lift.
Target Acquisition Engine: Acquired and reactivated 30,000+ customers—exceeding the original campaign target by +51%.
Strong Sales & Volume Growth: Total brand sales grew +9% YoY, with loyalty sales rising +16% YoY.
Accelerated Digital Commerce: Drove a +21% surge in online weekly sales compared to the pre-period.
