The activity, based around Haywards’ tagline ‘liven up your food’, is designed to increase brand awareness and penetration of the pickled vegetable category with a younger, more male focused audience.
Starting with sponsorship of the Metro’s Oddballs football column on Tuesday 22 April, the partnership will run in three phases until the end of December 2014. All three phases will encompass a broad range of branded content throughout the paper, including competitions and recipe suggestions, as well as press ads and front cover strips.
The first phase will include a sampling campaign kicking off in London and Leeds on 21 May, to liven up consumers’ lunches with sports fun. The sampling, undertaken by Metro promotional teams, will see chefs inspire customers with delicious recipes and simple, yet tasty ideas for how pickled vegetables can liven up every meal. The aim is to show Haywards’ versatility as a cooking ingredient and demonstrate how pickled vegetables can really grab the senses and deliver a delicious taste-experience. There will be picnic style tables and chairs, as well as a number of sports and fairground games to participate in at the selected venues.
The second phase of activity will begin in September and focus on beetroot, with the third and final phase commencing in November around pickled onions. This media partnership will again encompass a range of content, competitions, and sampling activity. The two phases aim respectively to liven up mealtimes and this year’s Christmas through the addition of pickled vegetables.
Sophie Robinson, Creative Director, Metro says: “We are proud to have won such an exciting piece of business, and looking forward to changing perception of this food category amongst our young urban audience. Hayward's is one of a number of recent wins for Story, our new in house creative agency.”
Kate Charman, Haywards Brand Manager, Mizkan Europe says: “Consumers have a tendency to know what they like and will often buy and cook the same thing again and again. Younger generations also tend to see the pickled vegetable category as outdated and losing relevance, so we need to reinvigorate it to bring in and educate younger consumers.
Pickling is a big trend, with many restaurants offering pickles on their menu, so clearly there is an appetite for these products. This campaign will encourage consumers to step out of their food comfort zone and turn the bland into brilliant!”
Clair Griffiths, Business Director at UM says: “This partnership with Metro is the perfect fit for Haywards. With a total brand reach of 3.2 million people per day and a slightly younger male bias, the Metro brand is a great way to reach our target audience effectively. We are sure that this partnership will work wonders for the brands’ exposure and tackle preconceptions around pickled vegetables.”
In July 2012 Mizkan Europe acquired Haywards alongside Sarson’s Vinegar, from Premier Foods for a cash consideration of £41m.
