TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Buchanan Group, the company responsible for such third party advertising vehicles as Brand Power and MediFacts, announced today the exciting launch of a new online community called Home Tester Club. The club is hosted at www.hometesterclub.ca.
"There are new products on supermarket shelves every day," said Chris Phyland, CEO of Buchanan Group. "Home Tester Club provides a forum for consumers to gather online to explore what's new in the world of consumer packaged goods and to share their new product experiences with fellow members."
Home Tester Club offers comprehensive lists of new products in a variety of categories, along with recipe ideas for new food products and cooking demonstration videos. Home Tester Club members participate by posting comments, reviews and ratings for both the products and the recipes featured on the site, so that others can learn from their experience and make more informed purchase decisions.
The idea for Home Tester Club originated in South Africa, where the company began experimenting with the concept a year ago, quickly growing the club's membership from 300 to over 28,000. In Canada, Buchanan Group plans to leverage the 60,000 existing members of its popular Brand Power online community as a starting point. Already, Home Tester Club has logged more than 1,350 uncensored product reviews from members in Canada, across a variety of new products.
Diane Williams, marketing consultant and President of White Rock Enterprise Inc., says that communities like Home Tester Club are an important part of the future landscape for product marketers to consider. "We used to have four P's in marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Now there's a fifth P and that's Participation," she said. "The magic of Home Tester Club is that a significant portion of the content is created by the members themselves. The value comes from members sharing knowledge with one another."
"It's a natural extension," continued Mr. Phyland. "For years, Brand Power has been helping Canadians buy better by telling them new product stories from the manufacturer's perspective. Now we're providing a forum for consumers to share new product insights with each other as a means to making purchase decisions that are even more informed. People have a natural inclination to share information; Home Tester Club is simply a forum that will supercharge the scale of those conversations."
Buchanan Group is also launching Home Tester Club in Australia, with plans for the U.S. and parts of Asia to soon follow.
About Buchanan Group
Buchanan Group began in Australia more than twenty years ago, and is now recognized as a global business expert in third party advertising.
Leveraging nine different advertising platforms, leading brands have worked with Buchanan Group to develop almost 2,000 campaigns across a variety of media (television, print, in-store, digital and direct to home).
Buchanan Group has seven offices around the world. The Toronto office services all of North America, led by Andrew Ackles, SVP The Americas. The Global CEO, Chris Phyland, is also based in Toronto.
Image with caption: "From the makers of Brand Power comes a community where consumers can comment and share uncensored reviews for new products, find recipes and become sample advocates. (CNW Group/Buchanan Group)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120918_C7601_PHOTO_EN_18059.jpg
SOURCE: Buchanan Group
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