Talking Points: Novel Approaches to Food Marketing

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Joss Davidge, Business Director of brand experience agency BEcause, is always on the look out for marketing ideas that encourage people to talk about a brand.  This week he looks at two campaigns that not only get people talking, but get the right people talking.

When looking at how to amplify a brand message we think it is vital to stimulate conversation.  And when budgets are tight, it’s even more important to focus efforts on discussing the right things with the right people.  Here are two imaginative examples of brand campaigns that did just that.

Wimpy Braille Burgers

After introducing braille menus to all Wimpy restaurants across South Africa it was important to get that message directly to the people who would benefit the most.  Yet, rather than just announce the news, Wimpy embarked on a campaign that would see the message spread to over 800,000 relevant people just by making 15 burgers.  The burgers buns were a little different though, as Wimpy painstakingly created a message in braille on top of each one using sesame seeds.  The special burgers were then taken to three of the largest institutions for blind people to deliver the “tasty message”.  It caused quite a stir as recipients started to talk about it on Braille newsletters and e-readers spreading the news across South Africa.

Frog Ambassadors

According to this campaign, French cuisine has never been popular in Russia.  The Russians consider French food to be overpriced and think it rarely strays from a base of frogs, oysters and croissants.  So rather than take out adverts in local papers or put pamphlets through doors,  French restaurant Vatel realised that it needed to change the general perception of its food through real experience.  So the restaurant gave out “pet frogs” to people across Moscow.  Each frog was in a plastic container that had “If you think this is real French cuisine, you just know nothing about it” written on the side.  Recipients could then return the frog to the restaurant in exchange for a “chic dinner”.  100% of the frogs were returned and the campaign, alongside the food, encouraged people to talk.  This lead to approximately €20,000 worth of publicity.  Brilliant.

Read more BEcause blog posts. Visit their website, and tweet @becausexm.

Posted: January 20th, 2012 | Author: will.armstrong | Filed under: Digital, Talking Points | Tags: BEcause, Food marketing, Joss Davidge, marketing society member, Wimpy Braille Burgers | Leave a Comment »

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