With vegetarian and vegan diets on the rise, including meat lovers enhancing their diets with meat-free proteins, Ingham’s decided to launch a new product (with impressive digital marketing campaign) to remain relevant for existing and future consumers.
A taste of success
The challenge
With the growing trend for non-meat protein and flexitarian diets, Ingham’s saw an opportunity for growth with minimal cannibalisation, and scope to future proof the brand. Going on its own market research, and that of the country’s two largest supermarket chains, the meat protein manufacturer launched in August 2020, Let’s Eat, a three sku range of pea and wheat protein tenders, nuggets and patties.
Somewhat out of their comfort zone in terms of the nuances of marketing messaging and the reaction of a growing, but very diverse vegetarian and vegan market category, Ingham’s drew on its experience marketing its free-range chicken products. At the same time the competitive environment was very challenging, with several well-established overseas manufacturers already in market, such as Quorn, Sunfed, Bean Supreme, and Kellogs’ MorningstarFarms. Their collective day-to-day media spend was at least ten times that of Ingham’s.
What Ingham’s did have on their side was the diverse market audience with large potential for such a product.
The response
Following further research into the category, Ingham’s determined that it needed an identity which was not Ingham’s, as this is strongly associated with chicken. Instead the company created something new and unique – Let’s Eat.
Brand identity and packaging heroed the product and got attention in freezer, supermarket placement and promotion. At the same time Ingham’s developed a differentiated digital brand and content campaign to drive awareness and encourage exploration of meal choices that Let’s Eat provided.
To become part of the routines of non-meat buyers and protein buyers looking to experiment, Ingham’s needed them to actively think about Let’s Eat. The food producer had to build awareness of the brand and range, enticing more Kiwis to do more with Let’s Eat. Then had to provide ideas and inspiration, while ensuring Let’s Eat was easy to find at the supermarket.
The result
The New Zealand-made, Vegetarian Society-endorsed product has been a massive success despite being a late entrant to this competitive market. Ingham’s reached a lot of people with the overall campaign delivering a 1+ reach of 65 percent to its broad target audience (c. 1.6 million), an excellent result with minimal wastage due to wide audience bullseye.
High-profile NZME placements including a NZ Herald Homepage Takeover on August 18 reached 1.2 million impressions, and a NZ Herald Mobile Blast on August 20 with 700k impressions. The NZ Herald digital media generally outperformed benchmarks by 60-90 percent thanks to high impact creative. At the same time TVNZ On Demand and ThreeNow achieved high video completion rates well above benchmark (97 percent vs 90 percent), and impressions of 1.43 million and 902k completions respectivly.
Category: Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Company: Ingham’s
Marketing Initiative: Let’s Eat – Joining The Pea Protein Revolution
Marketing Partners: Quantum Jump, Brother Design, PHD
Judges’ Comments: “A clear demonstration of an organisation following consumer and market trends and orchestrating their supply chain to meet evolving needs. The co-ordination of internal teams to secure physical availability and quickly react to a disrupted launch is notable. Ultimately they secured a strong position in an emergent market and look well-placed for a sustainable future.”
Finalists: J. H. Whittaker & Sons (two times finalist), Burger King (two times finalist)
This article was first published in the 2021 December/January issue of NZ Marketing magazine. You can subscribe to the magazine, here. Or read the other winner stories, here.
