Fresh from the Freezer

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Updates from BFFF team

‘Fresh from the Freezer’ - changing the perception of frozen food

An update on our member-funded marketing campaign.

‘Fresh from the Freezer’, which ran from November 2018 through to April this year, has proved incredibly successful. The aim of the campaign was to improve the perception of frozen food by targeting younger consumers and chefs, who are less likely to be ‘set in their ways’ and therefore more likely to be receptive to our new frozen story.

By bringing hero products and ingredients to life in short video recipes, the campaign overachieved its objectives, reaching 2.5 million consumers on Facebook and 1.7 million views on YouTube. The foodservice content was equally successful, reaching chefs 1.5 million times and the films viewed more than 40,000 times.

Here’s how we did it…

Campaign approach

The messaging in this campaign was critical, as we know that shoppers and chefs understand the advantages of frozen food but, typically, frozen messaging has communicated rational and functional benefits, such as great value for money and convenience.

But because emotional messaging tends to be more persuasive than logical messaging, we set out to shift the tone to a more emotional platform, using the power of the unexpected to build interest and reappraisal of the category.

The campaign highlights the surprise of frozen; building emotional appeal and interest by showcasing innovative and unexpected ingredients found in the freezer aisle, while emphasising the brilliant quality of the food and how it can be part of the solution to food waste.

Fresh from the Freezer

We know our target consumers and chefs are very active on social media, so we created a digital campaign that changes perception through driving appeal and emotional connections, inspiring consumers and chefs to re-evaluate the significance of frozen.

The consumer campaign was delivered through a series of six 30-second films showcasing amazing-looking, surprising, showstopping food and recipes that are made 'fresh from the freezer'.

The recipes each had a seasonal twist, from premium frozen Christmas dinners to Valentine's steak and lobster, as well as healthier January smoothies. Each film showcased stunning, unexpected and appetising food and recipes with a big reveal that all the ingredients came from the freezer - smashing the myth that frozen is inferior in quality and reinforcing its benefits.

To achieve this, each video starts with the finished plate of food then plays backwards, deconstructing the dish and finishing by landing on shots of the frozen ingredients, which then morph into the freezer.

Supporting the delicious recipes and surprising ingredients, rational messages were woven into each video to highlight the simplicity, ease, convenience and wider benefits of frozen.

The consumer campaign was amplified over six months via targeted Facebook and YouTube video advertising.

We mirrored the consumer approach in foodservice but increased our credibility with this audience by partnering with the Staff Canteen, tapping into their 65,000 members and 100,000 YouTube subscribers.

Working with its development chef, the campaign created three thematic chef recipes; showstopping desserts, meat-free alternatives and frozen shortcuts/premium bread. The foodservice films were amplified over three months via the Staff Canteen partnership and targeted video advertising on Twitter.

Campaign results

We set out to reach three million consumers at least three times during the course of the campaign and reach half of all chefs and three quarters of new chefs. We estimated there were around 250,000 chefs in the UK and more than 28,000 chef students in 2015/16.

The consumer campaign reached 2.5 million unique consumers 2.9 times via Facebook, while YouTube delivered a further 1.7 million views. These results were impressive, with Facebook 123% ahead and YouTube 101% ahead of their targets.

The campaign's recipes were very well received.

Engagement with the YouTube content was particularly high with 45% of consumers watching the films through to the end.

The partnership with the Staff Canteen showed our content 205,000 times across the Staff Canteen Youtube, Facebook and Instagram

channels, resulting in 28,500 video views. The chef-targeted Twitter campaign, aimed at chefs aged 18-34, showed our content a further 1.3 million times resulting in more than 12,000 video views.

The campaign has exceeded all our expectations and has been a great step on the way to repositioning frozen as a quality go-to choice that can drive down food waste, rather than an inferior last resort.

We’re looking forward to working with our members to drive thismessaging forward even further throughout 2019 and beyond.

● www.freshfromthefreezer.co.uk