One of the projects I’m most proud of from the OX2 years is the work we did for Nestlé Belgium on their Creative Family program — an eCRM initiative that truly bridged the gap between online and offline channels.

The project was presented by Diane Faynsztein, Market Intelligence Manager at Nestlé Belgium, and myself at a Marketing Day event. The core idea was straightforward: Nestlé wanted to build a direct relationship with families interested in their products, but they needed a system that connected what happened on the website with what happened in stores and through direct mail.

We built the platform on OniSystem, our eMarketing system, integrating newsletter management, coupon generation, online profiling, and offline redemption tracking. The results demonstrated that when you connect the dots between channels — when the online coupon actually gets tracked at the point of sale, when the newsletter signup leads to measurable in-store behavior — the ROI conversation becomes much easier to have with management.

This was 2008. The concepts of “omnichannel” and “customer journey” hadn’t yet become the buzzwords they are today. We were just solving a practical problem: how do you prove that your online investment drives offline revenue?

Here’s the full presentation:

Download the Nestlé Creative Family Case presentation (PDF)