Marketing Communications

450 CHAPTER 13 DIRECT MARKETING

Figure 13.8 Evolution of turnover (€ millions)

Figure 13.9 Turnover in different markets

Case 13:

Lotus Bakeries and LotusFriends: applying e-CRM in an FMCG market

Lotus Bakeries

Lotus was founded in Belgium in 1932 by three Boone

brothers. The company specialised in caramelised biscuits,

an original Belgian specialty. The typical taste – which is

due to the caramelisation of the sugar during the baking

process – quickly made caramelised biscuits a top product in

the Belgian biscuit market. A merger in 1974 with the Belgian

company Corona added cakes (pastry), waffles and galettes

to Lotus’s product portfolio. As internationalisation became

important and the cakes and pastry market is character-

ised by huge regional differences in taste and consumption,

several acquisitions of Belgian, Dutch, French, German, etc.,

companies soon followed to build a stronger, international

position. For caramelised biscuits no acquisitions took place

as this product is a Belgian specialty and was appreciated

internationally as it was. As of 2001, all the regional brands

(like Suzy, De Bruin, Cremers, Corona, Le Glazik, etc.) were

branded under the single brand Lotus, and the names of the

subsidiaries in the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Germany

and Switzerland were all changed to Lotus Bakeries. In line

with the company’s objective to become recognised as a

leading manufacturer of authentic, high-quality specialties,

Lotus Bakeries took over Peijnenburg, the Dutch market leader

in gingerbread, in 2006 and Anna’s, the Swedish market

leader of peparkakor (a thin and crispy biscuit enriched with

cinnamon and ginger spices), in 2008. Thus, currently Lotus

Bakeries produces and sells specialty products under three

strong brands: Lotus, Peijnenburg and Anna’s.

With a strong focus on the best-performing products

within each brand, Lotus Bakeries has seen a steady growth

in both traditional markets and in new growth markets over

the past few years (see Figure 13.8 and Figure 13.9).

How did it succeed in making its authentic, yet contem-

porary specialties increasingly popular? First of all, it was

able to start from a high-quality product with a distinctive

taste. Such a distinctive product is crucially important.

Secondly, the company relied on focused product innova-

tions, aimed partly at format innovation (e.g. mini-variants)

and partly at introducing products for new consumption

moments (e.g. caramelised biscuit spread and caramelised

biscuit ice cream). Thirdly, the company invested more

resources in marketing communications. Not only did it

spend more above the line (featuring ads that stressed the

fact that coffee moments need Lotus, see Photo 13.1), but

also it created a stronger bond with the customers, among

other things, by installing the ‘LotusFriends’ site (see below).

Importantly, to implement its strategy and meet the

challenging international objectives, Lotus Bakeries’ group

policy is set by the Executive Committee, but then passed

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