Dentsu Canada and Sampler are teaming up, giving the agency network access to a slew of startup companies that work with the DTC sampling service, which in turn gets access to a roster of established CPG clients like Becel and Pepsi’s Sabra.
Sampler provides subscribers with a personalized box of new products based on their product, lifestyle and shopping preferences.
The Dentsu client list is well-matched with Sampler, explains Marie Chevrier, Sampler’s CEO and founder. Roughly two-thirds of the brands it currently works with are still emerging, and brings know-how from that segment to the partnership, whilst Dentu provides big brand learnings, what Chevrier calls a win-win.
While those emerging brands tend to turn to Sampler to drive awareness, the service also provides something even the most established CPG companies are looking for. Through the partnership, brands will be able to develop integrated digital media campaigns that connect directly to Sampler’s digital product sampling technology. Dentsu’s brand roster will have access to rich consumer data within their own Sampler dashboard, which can easily be leveraged for things like CRM remarketing purposes.
The partnership is arriving at a time when Google plans to end third-party cookies and Apple has just transformed its app tracking framework, leaving media buyers and marketing wondering how effective targeting and retargeting could be with new methods that will emerge. According to Chevrier, that makes it more important for brands to go from click to acquisition to email, as do COVID-induced ecommerce spikes.
But since Sampler’s service is contingent on getting subscribers to explicitly opt-in for what data they share and samples they receive, it makes retargeting a more clear-cut proposition, throughout the funnel.
For example, a consumer that signals high purchase intent by going on a retailer site and browsing a product page can be offered the option of sampling, in addition to just buying.
“You see the ad, swipe up, or click on the ad, and go to the Sampler experience, which allows a user to enter a shipping address for a DTC sample,” she says. “Because you share that information with the brand directly, via Sampler, the brand can follow up after the free sample to ask how you felt about the product, if they need more information about the ingredients, the brand mission. It allows us to continue the conversation.”
One of these conversations, Chevrier says, is those had with men. As Chevrier pointed out when Sampler teamed up with Men’s Health for a male sample kit, women are more likely to convert a “free sample” into a purchase, while men, despite having an equal desire for freebies, are also less familiar with sampling programs.