Interview: Ilse van Ingen and Sander Nuhoff on Hero Benelux & the collaboration with STROOM in 2022

STROOM has been responsible for all on- and offline media strategy, consulting, planning and buying for Hero Benelux since January 1, 2022. The media world is constantly changing and every brand deserves an exclusive media mix and strategy. Therefore we asked Ilse van Ingen, Media Manager and Sander Nuhoff Head of Marketing of Hero Benelux how they are looking at the 2nd part of 2022.

Who are you and what do you do at Hero Benelux?

My name is Ilse and I work as Media Manager at Hero Benelux, this means that, among other things, I am responsible for the media strategy of all brands and the execution of the campaigns. Since this year I do this together with STROOM and other agencies within the Candid platform.

Who are you and what do you do at Hero Benelux?

My name is Sander Nuhoff. I am Head of Marketing there, which means I am responsible for brand management, category management and e-commerce for all Hero Benelux brands. Our brands include Hero jam, Hero Cassis, B'tween, Organix and Hero Baby.

Sander; looking back to the period of corona what effect did that have on the brands under Hero Benelux?

We operate with our brands in six very different categories. Each category has had its own corona effects. Hero Jam and Hero Cassis, for example, benefited tremendously because home use increased tremendously. Out of home use may have dropped tremendously, but because we are very strong in the retail channel, that produced very nice growth figures overall. Hero Baby in the follow-on milk category, on the other hand, fell sharply because young mothers were much more at home and thus started breastfeeding much more. Our growth brands B'tween and Organix have been growing at more than 20% per year for years and have continued to do so during the corona period. But this is because as more responsible brands, these brands are really on trend and so consumers continue to buy them more and more.

Ilse; how does Hero follow developments in the market and build its brand, together with STROOM?

To follow the developments, we naturally have our own network that allows us to stay close to the trends and consumer needs. We do a lot of consumer research, have a good link to our industry peers and are also supported on strategy and trends from the international Hero Group.

But for media strategy and execution, we also rely heavily on STROOM. Not for nothing did we choose STROOM at the end of 2021 because this agency turned out to be able to draw up a very clear and appropriate strategy per brand from a good external orientation. We are happy with the way they think along with the brand and marketing communication. 

For Hero Cassis, for example, we wanted to activate the younger target group in 2022. In collaboration with STROOM and sister within the Candid platform, Daily Dialogues as well as activation agency Raúl&Rigel, we created a 360-degree media plan where we looked at the media behavior of our target audience. In this collaboration, we recorded a YouTube mini-series called the Hero Cassis Koelkast Check Weeks, in which we traveled around the Netherlands to comically check the contents of the refrigerator of the Netherlands. This content proved to be hugely successful among the target audience and surpassed all benchmarks of the campaign and YouTube itself!

Another great example is B'tween, a brand that has grown an average of 20% per year for more than 10 years. Our slogan was "No one out the door without B'tween." But of course, in Corona times, that's a bit of a precarious message. So we launched a series of new brand videos in 2022 that sits more on the insight that B'tween can actually be at any time. Together with STROOM we looked at how best to show these videos among the target audience, in a qualitative and impactful way. In doing so, following the advice of STROOM , we shifted the focus from 100% digital to a combination of digital, outdoor and TV. The first campaign flights have been completed and the first results are promising.

Ilse; and what are the current challenges for Q3 and Q4 in 2022?

Q3 and Q4 are naturally busy periods in the media landscape. Media becomes more expensive because many brands want to be visible, especially around the holidays. We therefore consciously choose not to be present, or be less present, for certain brands during this period. Compared to large multinationals like Unilever and Nestle, we have a modest media budget and choose not to disappear in the media frenzy. We are focusing for Q3 and Q4 on a few initiatives that are big for us. Organix, for example, is coming out with a new major innovation in a new category that we are supporting. B'tween is also a major priority at the Back to School/Work moment. In addition, we are relaunching our Hero Jam and, of course, we need to let consumers know that so as not to lose existing consumers.

Sander; in 2022 Hero Benelux did a number of major communication campaigns for its brands together with STROOM. What ambitions does Hero Benelux have for 2023?

Our ambition for 2023 is that Hero will again grow more than 10% in sales. Over the past few years, Hero has implemented a new strategy that should lead to more profitable growth, and we are eager to continue this strategy. The challenge of the exorbitant cost price increases that we are currently facing is therefore very exciting. On the one hand, we do not want to let consumer prices rise too fast. And on the other hand, we have to protect our margins and continue to support our brands.

In addition, we have the specific brand ambitions. For a more than 100-year-old brand like Hero Jam, the challenge is to maintain the relevance of jam and build on it over time. For relatively young brands such as Organix and B'tween, the task is to increase awareness and consideration and expand the portfolio into new segments in the category. Finally, for Hero Baby, we recently sharpened the positioning, including designs and communications, to better explain to consumers why our recipe is better than the competition. With this, we aim to grow our market share in follow-on milk by 2023. 

Plenty of different challenges where we definitely need the help of STROOM .