The task
Essential Cuisine reformulated two of their three-strong gravy range to make them completely gluten-free and free-from declarable allergens. With the colder climes of gravy season approaching, the company saw this as the perfect opportunity to relaunch the products, and drive sales into the bargain.
The pre-made gravy market in foodservice has traditionally been dominated by two key players, but the feeling was that they didn’t necessarily represent the quality and taste that was available from all the brands playing in that space. Therefore the challenge was not only to raise awareness of the range but also to begin the process of re-establishing a ‘good, better, best’ structure into the category.
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The solution
We worked closely with Essential Cuisine to establish the key points of difference of their gravy range that gave them a competitive edge, using these to form the solid foundations of the campaign plan.
We began by working alongside the well-respected Good Sense Research to carry out chef and consumer blind taste and performance tests against leading competitor products to attempt to establish the preference for our gravies. The research went on to very clearly prove this preference with both consumers and chefs.
We then utilised this fantastic insight to build a fully integrated campaign in which various elements were produced including; a wholesaler sell-in presentation, printed literature, video content, advertising and strong PR messaging.
In order to ensure that the campaign always led back to our overall aim of uplift in sales, we developed a news-worthy CTA of the Gravy Amnesty. Caterers simply had to go online to request their free full-sized tub of gravy to encourage longer-term trial of the product.
The results
- Sales of the product line rose by a staggering 28% y-o-y
- 100% PR hit rate with an OTS exceeding 298,241
- Advertising OTS in excess of 580,000