Opening the jar of Hellmann's juicy secrets, and tasting how they increased sales with campaigns that solved problems while also establishing that their products are a cut above the rest.
The campaigns by Hellmann's, a line of mayonnaise and food products from the house of Unilever, are heavily imbibed in the notion of 'not selling a product, but solving a problem'.
Most brands from the food & beverages sector bank on their taste and ingredients for their promotional efforts, not that Hellmann's doesn't talk about facets such as no use of preservatives or premium taste, but these factors are often in the backdrop of the narrative.
One of the biggest problems that Hellmann's faced that may have also been limiting the sales, was the consumers' perception of mayonnaise as an ingredient only being limited to sandwiches.
But the brand found ingenious ways to solve this issue with their off-ground efforts then amplified as digital campaigns to boost their communication. For the campaign Food Slot, the brand planted Las Vegas-style slot machines across supermarkets and grocery stores.
Whenever a consumer pulled the lever the machine would randomly combine ingredients in the display and give out the dish prepared with those ingredients and the collectible recipe for it.
Although one ingredient always remained unchanged - Hellmann's Mayonnaise. With close to three hundred combinations, Hellmann's established its versatility.
Another one of such campaign was Recipe Receipt. With a software installed in over a hundred cash registers, the point of sales became the turning point to communicate the product's diverse uses.
Whenever the system recognized a Hellmann's during checkout at the counter, it combined other ingredients in the cart to churn out a custom recipe printed out on the receipt. If there was a Hellmann's in the cart, there was a recipe in the receipt.
The campaign was run for three months on-ground, and in the first month alone the sales increased 44%, and the brand taught the consumers more ways to use the mayo for preparing meat, salads, portions of pasta, and more.
Hellmann's has also been an eco-conscious brand, along with producing their plastic jars from recycled materials and being fully recyclable, they have also taken a strong stance against the growing problem in the food industry and with the general population - wastage of food.
Their 2019 campaign The Restaurant With No Food, which also falls in line with their tagline, 'Bring Out the Best', prompted us to this global crisis.
The video advert exhibited an activity performed, which asked people to get useless leftovers from their fridge, and Hellmann’s would transform it into five-star meals by preparing it with their products, with a helping hand by David Hertz, Celebrity Chef.
This campaign turned out as a good example of embedded marketing, where the potential of the product is incorporated into a strong message. It received organic coverage from news outlets along with users discussing it on social media. The advert was also lauded by Daniel Balaban, Director of UN who mentioned, "The idea is an extremely important wake-up call on food waste".
The 2018 advert apprised us that Canadians waste enough food every minute to feed a stadium. The brand showcased how they fed a whole stadium with food that could've been in the bin.
Ogilvy and Hellmann's have been together like bread and mayo. The brand has collaborated with other agencies too, but several of their prominent campaigns such as The Restaurant With No Food, Real Food Rescue, Recipe Receipt, and more, have been primarily created in association with Ogilvy.
With cooking tutorials and DIY recipes, the brand has also forayed into educational content marketing. More campaigns solved more problems and freed the mayo from between the slices of bread.
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