Consumers Are Getting Social With Merchant Gourmet® For Christmas

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without Chestnuts, whether they are roasted over an open fire or enjoyed as the bases of some hearty homemade stuffing or stews. Knowing the popularity of their chestnuts range over the festive season, MERCHANT GOURMET®, have launched the 12 weeks of Christmas Campaign, which will engage consumers through the use of social media.
 

Unlike traditional Christmas Campaigns, they have fully embraced the ethos of social media by encouraging people to interact with Facebook and Twitter. The more people engage online, by either answering weekly questions or sharing the campaign with their friends, the more chances they have to win a selection of prizes.
 

Sanjay Davda Head of Grocery at MERCHANT GOURMET®, spoke about the innovative approaches being taken to interact with their consumer base and attract new customers.
 

“This is a really exciting campaign and one that we think will help consumers think of MERCHANT GOURMET® as a brand of choice for Chestnuts.  We have lined up a whole host of Christmas treats for our consumers, such as Kelly Bronze Turkeys, Stellar Organics Wines, Oromo Coffee and Rude Health Cereals, to ensure that our engagement maintains momentum and our reach is maximised over the next three months.”
 

Alongside the weekly treats, the campaign will also result in one lucky person winning a trip to the famous Charlottenburg Christmas Market in Berlin. To enter, customers simply have to check the packs of MERCHANT GOURMET® Chestnuts and MERCHANT GOURMET® Chestnut Puree products for further details. 

Speaking about the reason for linking the on pack promotion with the social media campaign Davda said: “The popularity for traditional ingredients is on the rise, and last year we saw an eight per cent growth year on year in the volume sales of our whole chestnuts. This year we are also planning stronger promotional activity in store in the build-up to the festive season and we believe that this campaign will really bring this product to life and get our customers engaging.  

"We believe that building a two way dialogue is essential and from our success so far it appears that our consumers really appreciate this. After only a few hours of the campaign going live we had increased our Facebook following by nearly 5%, so we are really excited to see what the next 12 weeks have to offer.“
 

Speaking about the overall purpose of the campaign Davda went on to say:“What we want to achieve from this, is to make sure that our chestnuts are the ones of choice for consumers, particularly over the Christmas period. However we also want to attract them to other products within the MERCHANT GOURMET® range whilst simultaneously attracting new consumers. “
 

To enter check out the Merchant Gourmet Facebook page and start liking http://www.facebook.com/MerchantGourmet?ref=hl