Seriously good first year

DESCRIPTION

Mayonnaise is a star performer in New Zealand’s food industry, enjoying double-digit growth for several years running. Attempting to wrestle Best Foods’ market dominance away, Heinz launched its own premium product, Seriously Good Mayonnaise (SGM), earlier this year.

The research was on Heinz’s side - 9 out of 10 consumers preferred SGM to Best Foods’ mayonnaise in taste-tests. Heinz felt certain that if Best Foods customers tried SGM they could be persuaded to change brand. So, in addition to advertising on foodie blogs and offering free samples at farmers' markets, Heinz directly targeted Best Foods’ customers, offering them each a free jar of SGM.

To give the SGM campaign credibility, Heinz enlisted award-winning chef Michael Meredith to endorse the product. Meredith cooked lunch at his restaurant for top food editors, using SGM as the central ingredient. Foodies were also offered the chance to win the chef’s services for the day in a competition.

Five months after SGM’s launch, Heinz has captured 8.7% of the mayonnaise market, already almost tripling its projected annual target of 3%. In the same period Best Foods’ market-share dropped from 60% to 50%. In all, over 10,000 people have visited the SGM website making it one of Heinz’s most successful product launches to date.

IMAGES