Marketing Communications

CASE 11 369

regular Express shop. To Carrefour’s own surprise, during

the first business hour at Rock Werchter 40 tents were

sold. In total, about 4000 chocolate cakes, over 6000

croissants, more than 5000 breads and sandwiches and

over 2000 doughnuts were sold, but also 3000 bottles of

milk, 400 raincoats, 300 toothbrushes, hundreds of plastic

spoons, forks, knives and plates, 1500 apples and 1000

nectarines, and 3000 packets of crisps.

Of course, image-building was at least as important.

Festival attendees were all very positive. After the festivals,

various blogs were screened; no single negative remark

was found and people remarked: ‘if I would have known

there was going to be a shop, I would not have brought so

much stuff ’. Many people appreciated the fair, ‘normal’

prices, and nobody complained about the long queues.

Also festival organisers were very enthusiastic. They con-

sider it a very cost-effective way of offering added value on

their festivals, and they urged Carrefour to set up shops at

other camping grounds too. Most festival organisers announced

the presence of the shop on their websites and issued press

releases. Rock Werchter announced the presence of the

Express shop explicitly on its 2009 festival website. Com-

petitors of Carrefour have also shown their interest in being

present at the festivals, a move that Carrefour blocked by

negotiating a right of first refusal. Also, other festivals have

asked Carrefour to set up a store at their venues.

At Rock Werchter, the shop was set up along a major

road. Many people other than festival attendees have there-

fore been exposed to this new initiative.

The shops also led to massive amounts of free publi-

city in almost every Belgian newspaper, featuring extensive

coverage with headlines such as: ‘Festival shops: bull’s eye’,

‘Carrefour finds hole in festival market’, ‘Supermarket on

festival camping ground’.

Due to the short planning cycle, Carrefour itself did not

support its initiative by means of other communications efforts.

Adapting and extending the project in 2009

After a thorough evaluation, the market team decided to

extend the initiative and to make some adaptations. In

2009, shops were set up at the same three festivals, and a

fourth festival, Dranouter Folk (6–9 August), was added.

Shop floor surface was slightly enlarged, and a third check-

out was provided. The shops would no longer be open the

day after the festival – attendees pack and leave as soon as

they can. However, opening hours during the festival were

extended, based on the 2008 experience. On the evening

before the start of the festival, the shops were open until

2 a.m., and on festival days between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The assortment only required minor modifications since it

appeared to be well adapted to festival attendees’ needs.

Even more Carrefour private label products were offered

instead of A-brands. Price-level policy was the same.

Although the branding of the shops on the outside was OK,

inside branding was improved. Also some fine-tuning was

called for. For instance, at Pukkelpop, coffee brand Douwe

Egberts organised a ‘breakfast action’ with coffee and

croissants. Therefore, these products were not part of the

assortment at this festival.

QUESTIONS

1. Do you think that setting up a point-of-sales at music
   festivals was a good idea? Does it focus on the right
   target groups? Is it meaningful in terms of image-
   building for Carrefour?


2. Did Carrefour take the right decision in terms of
   festival selection, pricing strategy, assortment and
   shop layout? Why or why not? What would you do
   differently?


3. If a retailer in your own country were to think of doing a
   similar project, which festivals could they select and
   why? Would the retailer have to organise its shops in a
   different way than Carrefour? Why or why not?


4. At the 2008 festival, Carrefour did not support the ini-
   tiative by means of other marketing communications
   activities. Build a supporting Carrefour communications
   plan for the next festival.


5. In what way could Carrefour measure the success and
   effectiveness of this project?

Sources : http://www.carrefour.com ; http://www.carrefour.eu ; http://www.graspop.be ; http://www.pukkelpop.be ; http://www.rockwerchter.be.

Information provided by Lars Vervoort, Corporate Communication Manager, and Tine Nelissen, PR & Communication Coordinator.

M11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 369M11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 369 3/6/13 4:07 PM3/6/13 4:07 PM