INSIGHT DRIVEN CAMPAIGN FOR THE NEW ‘NORM’
- Total campaign reach of 1 million
- Generated 21 Instagram posts reaching a targeted audience interested in plant-based food
- Utilised partnership with vegan cookbook author and co-founder of So Vegan Instagram channel, Roxy Pope, which saw her hosting a live Zoom cook-along and engaging her Instagram followers
Media events are a powerful way for brands to engage with key media and influencer contacts, sharing rich content which goes beyond a standard product press release and delves into tasting notes, food pairings, the company’s background, ethos and more. But amidst the COVID pandemic, with most journalists working from home, how can brands replicate this valuable tactic?
California-based plant-based food producer, Follow Your Heart, briefed Storm to build a campaign driving awareness of its milestone new listings in over 800 Tesco stores nationwide. Using our insights in how media consumption and consumer behaviours have changed during lockdown, with influencers having a greater share of voice and the ‘new norm’ of video calls being commonplace, we hosted a live Zoom cook-along and product demo session that took this product launch beyond being just a press office based campaign.
As we all know, location, budget and a solid guest list can make or break a traditional media event. So the benefits in hosting it virtually removed the limitation of a central London location as well as the budget hungry venue hire and dressing costs. It also allowed us to invite media and influencers from around the country, as travel was no longer a barrier to attend, broadening its appeal and opening it up to a completely new audience.
Choosing the right host became crucial to the success of the event, to provide credibility and interest. We identified Roxy Pope, cookbook author and one half of the popular So Vegan Instagram channel, who created an easy and delicious chickpea ‘tuna’ melt recipe featuring Follow Your Heart’s Smoked Gouda Slices, Mature Cheddar Slices and Original Vegenaise – the three products newly landing on Tesco’s shelves.
Roxy hosted a 40-minute lunchtime cook-a-long which saw 14 media and influencer guests tuning in. Each was sent all of the ingredients by post ahead of time, to ensure the event was easy to get involved with. Following the event, the Storm team followed up with each guest, encouraging influencers to post on their channels and media to review the newly listed products.
Alongside the event, we also worked with four Instagrammers to deliver over 20 posts about Follow Your Heart and their new Tesco listing going live. These boosted posts were all run over a week and reached almost 1 million consumers with an interest in vegan products and recipes.
These results show that in the new era of work from home culture, virtual media events are a tactic to rival the traditional version, delivering strong cut-through and return on investment.
