APCO's brief was to develop a documentary series to demystify and advocate for plant-based eating. The target was consumers in the UK and US, and it needed to appeal to a broad range of audiences—meat-eaters, flexitarians, vegetarians, vegans, and "everything in between".
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Research confirmed the campaign should be social media-led and focused on stories of real people rather than a corporate entity.
Four influencers were chosen, focused on diversity and 'quality over quantity' regarding follower numbers. Most of the influencers would be described as micro-influencers (1,000-100,000 followers). These included: Tomi, a London-based Nigerian chef and caterer who teaches vegan cooking classes; Brendon, founder of the first all-vegan rugby team; Lemel, California-based vegan soul food chef; and Aubrey & Kale, a sibling duo who opened a vegan butcher shop.
The owned social media activity saw the launch of a series of social media trailers to promote the documentaries, using organic and paid content. A social media toolkit and content hub helped the influencers promote the videos on their own channels. There were branded editorials in Vice, the media partner for the campaign.
Two Instagram Live events on plant-focused media outlet Plant Based News featured real-time Q&A with Aubrey & Kale and Tomi. The documentaries were also uploaded onto the Upfield YouTube channel and shared by staff.
The result was an increase in advocacy for plant-based diets, with the hashtag #ABetterPlantBasedFuture reaching 2.7m. There was a significant shift in the perception of plant-based spreads (margarine) when compared to non-plant-based alternatives (butter) - and a direct positive impact to Upfield sales.
Judge's comment: "Creativity and passion shine through this campaign and entry, resulting in huge cut through and reach in an already crowded space."
Highly commended:
'Go carton' by Brands2Life for Tetra Pak
Tetra Pak wanted to debunk myths that cartons couldn't be recycled, encourage people to choose cartons over other packaging choices, and crucially, to recycle them. To raise awareness of Tetra Pak’s environmental credentials, Brands2Life launched Tetra Pak’s first consumer social media campaign, Go Carton. Through a mix of videos, statics and animations across Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram, the campaign reached nearly four million people with a 17 per cent engagement rate, totalling 15m video views. Meanwhile, the influencer programme reached an additional 234,000 people, leading to 1.2k click-throughs to Tetra Pak’s Instagram page.
Shortlisted:
'Celebrate the single' by Grayling for Lloyds Bank
