4 Surprising Ways CPG Brands Are Using Paid Search For Brand Marketing [Study]

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers have been spending an average of $6.2 million monthly on Google AdWords in the US over the past three years, according to a new AdGooroo study which looked at ad impressions between August 2012 and July 2013.  All of the CPG companies engaged in brand marketing, but AdGooroo found that several brands took surprising approaches in their targeting to reach their desired audiences in search.

Here are four examples of CPG companies using search to broaden their share of voice in surprising ways:

1. In a departure from the standard tactic of promoting recipe and meal planning content among CPG food brands, Pop Secret, playing on its tagline “The secret to movie night,” aimed its paid search ads at consumers looking to stream movies.  More than 43 percent of the brand’s keywords were movie related such as “free movies” and “free movie streaming”, according to AdGooroo.
2. Cereal brands Cheerios and Froot Loops also took different tacks with non-endemic keyword targeting. in addition to “how to lower cholesterol”, Cheerios focused on keywords such as “fun games” and “kid games”. Froot Loops sponsored keywords aimed at kids education including “pbs kids”, “funbrain” and “math games”.
3. Colgate, which ranked 11th on AdGooroo’s list of top CPG advertisers, generated more impressions from the keyword “diabetes” than it did from its own brand name. To back up its advertised value proposition — not to mention sustain decent quality scores while competing against pharmaceutical brands — Colgate has a created content library around oral health issues pertaining to diabetes.
4. In the world of soda wars, Pepsi stepped up its game for the Super Bowl, which it sponsored with TV ads, and then essentially sat on the bench while Coca-Cola sites accounted for more than 80 percent of paid search impressions in the carbonated beverage category. Pepsi’s top keywords during the period were “super bowl” and “superbowl”.

Kraft Foods Group, which dominated the CPG field with more than 20 percent of total CPG ad impressions on Google AdWords with its KraftRecipes.com and KraftBrands.com sites, took the more traditional approach of promoting recipe and meal planning content.

The full report is available for download here.