Avocado Week (Red Communications)
RED launched Avocado Week to connect a variety of retail, shopper and trade promotions on avocados for Peruvian growers’ association ProHass. Our aim was to link the different parts of the campaign - including product sampling in stores and on street, online offers and advertising, PR and social media – around a common theme. We wanted an event that would inspire supermarkets, consumers and food writers to take part with their own activity.
We picked the week of 4-10 July and developed campaign resources: a logo and design brief; an #AvocadoWeek hashtag; an infographic on the UK sales boom; photography of avocados and a 30-second recipe video.
We used some or all of these resources in every ‘paid for’ activity – working with Aldi, ASDA, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Avocado Week branding was used at in-store events, on retailers’ websites and at staff events; and at on-street sampling, on press releases and for media visits.
We met retailers and food writers and encouraged them to capitalise with their own activities. The response was fantastic, with Tesco carrying out a range of activities, while Aldi and ASDA ran social media and ASDA promoted directly to its staff.
The on-street sampling, print and online press activity and social media during avocado week gave incentives for consumers, bloggers and chefs to get involved. They used the hashtag on tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts, which included avocado selfies, comments and exclusive avocado art, as well as on menus and blogs for the week.
Darren A. Smith
'The Size of a Chihuahua with the Bark of a Rottweiler'
It's 2014 - ‘We don’t need a website, no-one has asked for it. We’re doing well as we are’. We could not have been more wrong.
Our vision is for ‘Every supplier to the big four UK supermarkets to want our products'. To achieve this we needed to raise our game digitally.
Roll forward two years and the online Rottweiler is here!
Our 7 Objectives and Achievements:
• Decide our USPs to be website leads:
1. CPD accreditation achieved, 2. Money-back training guarantee in place, 3. Unique training method ‘Sticky Learning designed & working.
• Win an industry award:
Shortlisted for IGD awards but lost to Co-op. Darn.
• A great self development blog:
Awarded by 'Marketing Inspector’ as a top 20 self development blog
• Partner with 3 companies to extend our reach significantly:
Training Zone published us to 250,000 people.
Gowling International will offer our GSCOP book in November 2016.
Author for Lifehack (top 1,000 website in the world).
• Page 1 for our top 10 keywords and 50 backlinks to our website.
Achieved because we are page 1 for 'Category Management Training’.
35 backlinks so far...
• 100 x 1 minute videos of personal development tips:
Completed 100 videos on our Youtube channel.
• Gain significant PR wherever we can:
Appeared on BBC.
Wrote the Amazon GSCOP book and launched the GSCOP Aware Association.
Charles Jennings, the founder of 70:20:10 learning model, wrote the guide foreword.
Herbilicious (Vitacress/Ceres PR)
Ceres PR were tasked by Vitacress, a leading supplier of fresh produce, specialising in watercress, salads and fresh herbs, with creating an integrated campaign to engage younger consumers. Herbilicious was born, to take fresh herbs from being an occasional kitchen ingredient to a modern kitchen essential.
· A new website www.lovefreshherbs.co.uk with recipes, tips, videos and themed blogs was launched
· Social media led campaign using created and curated content including blogs, graphics and videos. The Facebook campaign page generates 26k monthly page impressions, while Twitter achieves 44k monthly impressions
· Instagram competition (#HerbiliciousMeals) inspired consumers to use fresh herbs and was promoted through blog and video content (with 80k+ views) from top lifestyle blogger Carly Rowena.
· Additional video content including recipes gained more than 13k views
· An event at leading herb expert Jekka McVicar’s herb farm to discuss herb trends, resulted in a double page feature in the I Newspaper (297,453 readers)
· Partnerships with Kerstin Rodgers of www.msmarmitelover.co.uk, (20k+ social media following), Dannii Martin of Hungry Healthy Happy (34k followers) and food writer Katie Caldesi (15k followers)
· Over 40 pieces of coverage in the media, including The Times, Mail Online, Daily Telegraph website, Daily Mirror, Radio X with Johnny Vaughan and Stylist magazine
· Engagement with influencers, including The Body Coach, Jack Stein, Raymond Blanc and top bloggers
Since the campaign started, sales of fresh herbs have had double-digit growth and reached record levels. Frequency of purchase among the target younger consumer demographic has increased.
Snackisfaction (Pink Lady/Coregeo)
Pink Lady’s ‘Snackisfaction’. campaign has seen a redesign of Pink Lady’s website to focus on snackable, feel-good content that slots into a snack break. This includes a ‘brain snacks’ section featuring games, stories, Pink Lady Core Pilates videos, all designed to offer the perfect brain break. This area has seen 5,000 unique users since launch, and the wider site has seen a spike in traffic, with a 26.9 per cent rise in traffic this year compared to 2015. To further leverage Snackisfaction and to drive newsletter sign-ups, Pink Lady offered fans a chance to win a Pink Lady apple holder if they signed up to the newsletter for snack swap support, which prompted 14,000 sign-ups.
Pink Lady has this year executed a PR campaign rooted in Snackisfaction, which has included creation of new snackable recipes. So far, the PR campaign has achieved over 16 million opportunities to see in print, and over 188 million online.
Sampling in conjunction with various sponsorships has formed a large part of this campaign. This year the brand partnered with Gay Star News for the third year running, and created Pink Lady stickers featuring the rainbow colours of the Pride flag, representing the brand’s first foray into producing a limited edition sticker. 20,000 apples were distributed exclusively in the Gay Star News Pride Bag at six of the summer’s Pride events. Programmes of sampling have also taken place at the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards, CarFest and the Virgin Money London Marathon.
Team GB Partnership (Aldi)
Objectives
Aldi is proud to be the first supermarket to sponsor the British Olympic team.
At the core of our Team GB campaign is Super 6, offering six fresh produce items at 40 per cent cheaper than our rivals every two weeks.
We aim to shift our perception from a German discounter to a credible British supermarket by making high-quality fresh produce affordable to everyone and highlighting our commitment to British growers.
Our integrated, multichannel campaign promotes healthy lifestyle choices and communicates the message – if it is worthy for Olympians, it is worthy for all.
Implementation
We work with various agencies to create a dedicated webpage to profile our six ambassadors and encourage customers to Eat Like a Champion by shopping our Super 6 range.
Our healthy and delicious recipes make use of fresh produce, showcase our ambassadors’ personal favourites and draw inspiration from the flavours of Rio.
Social media and national advertisements also lead our marketing efforts through powerful images that marry fresh produce and the athletes.
Success
The campaign has helped improve our sales of fresh produce since Rio with 15 per cent year-on-year uplift. It drove a 22 per cent perception increase in Aldi promoting healthy, affordable living, repositioning Aldi as a destination for quality produce.
Our perception as ‘a promoter of healthy and affordable living’ rose from 59 to 72 per cent, and our perception of being part of British culture grew by nine per cent.
Such success means we’re supporting Team GB until Tokyo 2020.
The Tomato Stall
www.thetomatostall.co.uk is a fantastic example of a business embracing digital and marketing innovation with a pioneering website presence, strong social media identity and a big PR profile, all generated by a small team of innovative, enthusiastic tomato addicts!
Created in 2007, The Tomato Stall showcases the speciality organic and conventional tomatoes that are grown on their Isle of Wight nursery, and takes them direct to the consumer.
In addition to fresh speciality tomatoes, the Tomato Stall produces a range of award-winning tomato-inspired artisanal products inspired by their 'flavour is foremost' ethos – all the products are completely additive and preservative free.
The interactive website, which allows consumers to purchase products for home delivery, is only one part of a multi-digital platform which includes a significant presence on social media. The newsletter offers regular news updates, competitions and recipe ideas straight to your inbox. On Twitter their page is followed by 3,200 readers including bloggers and food writers posting regular updates from the nursery and foodie-inspired content. Their Facebook page has inspired 2,200 readers to like the pages
For those more traditional consumers of media, the Tomato Stall achieves regular articles in the national press, editorials from food bloggers and chefs throughout the country, and namedrops from everyone from Jamie Oliver to Fred Sirieix of First Dates! Mary Berry and James Martin have both filmed TV shows at the nursery, and this year Channel 4’s The Food Chain followed their tomatoes from nursery to plate on TV.
Total Produce
At Total Produce UK we firmly believe that great supply is about supplying information as well as fresh produce. We’ve wholeheartedly embraced digital technology to make sure all our customers are kept up to speed with the very latest seasonal information.
We produce a monthly market report in various formats. Each month there’s a webpage with a downloadable pdf (also distributed by email) and a video version that we hope is short, sharp, informative and entertaining. We use our Twitter accounts to promote (and link to) each market report when it’s published. The market report section of our site ishere.
We are also running a series of market-based promotional days with some of our growers like G’s, Blue Whale and Levarht. We publicise these via email and Twitter which link to a more detailed info page on our site. Afterwards we upload a short video of the day to encourage customers to attend future events. You’ll find these in the news section of our websitehere.
We use our Twitter accounts extensively both to promote and publicise the produce we sell, particularly new lines, and to link to more detailed information on our site. Have a look at@Totalcornwall, @totalbristol, or @totaledinburgh.
Horticulture may be one of the world’s oldest technologies but we think it marries happily with one of the world’s newest, the flow of digital information.
Wild for Watercress (Vitacress/Ceres PR)
Ceres PR were tasked by Vitacress, one of Europe's leading suppliers of fresh produce, specialising in watercress, salads and fresh herbs, to devise a dynamic digital campaign to create cut through for watercress among younger consumers. Watercress has traditionally been predominately bought by an older demographic, so the campaign needed to reach and engage younger consumers. A Facebook campaign Wild for Watercress (www.facebook.com/WildforWatercress) was launched to highlight the many different – and sometimes unusual – ways watercress can be used, as well as the health benefits, using a tone and channel that appeals to the younger age group.
· Wild For Watercress was launched as a Facebook only campaign (www.facebook.com/WildForWatercress)
· Distinctive branding was developed to give all campaign materials a bold look and feel
· Twelve inspirational and unusual ideas for enjoying watercress were developed and shared using photography and graphic content
· Three videos were filmed and edited showing how watercress could be used in curries, stir fries and on cheese-on-toast and shared regularly via Facebook
· Content, featuring both watercress, and general food and lifestyle content relevant to the target audience, was curated and shared
· Targeted Facebook advertising ensured that content reached the right audience
· An initial four month burst of activity achieved more than 5k followers and an average monthly reach of 202.5k, with 4.5k engaged users each month
Following its initial success, activity has now been extended to include further content creation and partnerships, including with leading blogger Top With Cinnamon.