Johnsonville Recipe Contest
Challenge:
Johnsonville Sausage, America's No. 1 sausage brand with over 30 different products, wanted to educate its target female consumer on the versatility of Italian Sausage and deliver key messaging that it can easily replace other proteins such as ground beef and chicken for a more flavorful family dish. The brand was also eager to generate new content for their website to attract visitors, drive engagement, and increase sales.
Solution:
Based upon the proven success of previous matrixx digital campaigns, matrixx was able to demonstrate to Johnsonville that “crowdsourcing” (user generated content) is an effective way to engage and activate consumers. Additionally, matrixx wanted to leverage social media to connect with the mom and foodie community who enjoy cooking and also activate bloggers and top influencers who are popular and trusted by their readers.
The “Pastaville” recipe contest featured an easy to use microsite where consumers could submit and share their favorite recipe with a Johnsonville Italian Sausage twist for the chance to win some of the $15,000 cash prizes.
Participants created a profile and submitted their entry through a series of easy to complete drop down boxes and also had the option to include various enhancements such as a short bio and profile photo, step by step recipe photos as are often seen in food blogs, finished “crave” shot, instructional video, and more. Printable coupons were also available to drive trial.
matrixx spread awareness via extensive social media and buzz creation using targeted online media, Facebook and Twitter and strategic partnerships crafted with major food blogs.
Results:
In 10 weeks, matrixx was able to attract almost 1,500 recipes, far exceeding the client goal of 200. Beyond the text content many entries were accompanied by high quality food photography and even instructional videos which are now additional content assets Johnsonville will leverage to support sales.
Many influential mom, food and cooking bloggers/vloggers that matrixx engaged with responded very positively including posts to their readers highlighting the “Pastaville” promotion as well as their own recipe submission (posted both on their blog and to the Pastaville site) reaching millions of additional consumers.