#13: Ontario-based businesses and the innovation born as a result of COVID-19
The vision behind Sampler.
Marie Chevrier, founder and CEO: Since its inception in 2013, Sampler has been helping consumer packaged goods companies manage their product sampling campaigns from beginning to end, including targeting the right audience, gathering information about that consumer’s profile, sending samples directly to homes, as well as gathering feedback and drawing insights from the data collected all in one place.
Product sampling is a massive industry and brands spend five to 50 percent of their annual marketing budget on it. Yet, brands had not found an effective way to attribute and measure return on investment on traditional product sampling strategies. They have been using the same product sampling strategies for decades and grew to believe that blindly distributing samples to non-targeted audiences was as efficient as sampling could get. Sampler’s technology is a solution to the pain points marketers have experienced for decades, like minimal return on investment and a lack of targeting. Because brand managers have years of first-hand experience with the barriers that traditional sampling creates, it’s easy for them to see the immense benefits that come with moving their sampling strategies online.
Brands can set up a campaign quickly and receive a predictable cost that includes everything from targeting, shipping and remarketing. Along the way, Sampler’s turnkey solution helps brands gather consumer feedback and demographic insights that will increase successful trial and in-turn conversion rates. Users create a Sampler profile for free, answer a set of diagnostic questions and get a curated list of samples to choose from tailored to their lifestyle, preferences, and needs and get them delivered right to their doorstep. Users can then leave the brands valuable feedback on the product and their intent to purchase.
Our biggest learning was the importance of being nimble and adaptive. We are proud of how our team was able to very quickly put together initiatives to help support the brands who saw their go-to-market strategies change overnight.
How it helped.
When the pandemic hit, we quickly realized that our clients, consumer packaged goods brands, would really struggle with ways to get in front of their consumers. Before the pandemic, many brands would leverage events or in-store experiences as a way to connect with their potential customers but with the pandemic that became impossible.
As a company that has been digitizing that experience since 2013, we knew that we could help support them but also that this was going to be a really great opportunity for us to encourage brands to try our services for the first time. We also saw a need for the brands we work with to connect with other stakeholders like retail buyers, press and even investors. Through a partnership with New Hope Network, Sampler launched a sampling program that enabled companies to connect with retail buyers, press and even investors by sending them free samples that they could try and give feedback on from the comfort and safety of their own home. Between seeing a surge in demand and launching new products, our team found impactful ways to make a difference in our community, like our Come-TogetherTO initiative. This project successfully sent out 2,000 sewing kits to consumers with sewing skills, who then produced non-medical grade masks for essential workers in Toronto. The initiative just proved how much we can accomplish when we all come together and in difficult times, that is exactly the glimpse of hope many of us needed.
Lessons learned.
Our biggest learning was the importance of being nimble and adaptive. We are proud of how our team was able to very quickly put together initiatives to help support the brands who saw their go-to-market strategies change overnight.
Connect with Spark
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