Dolmio Pepper Hacker 2.0
Mars Food Australia
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
Clemenger BBDO Sydney
Creative Team
Head of Craft Daniel Mortensen Senior Designer Claire Sutton (Packaging) Head of Creative Technology Brendan Forster Creative Directors Ben Smith, Luke Hawkins (Film) AMV BBDO (Film) Creative Directors Dave Buchanan Copywriter Caio Gianella Art Director Diego de Oliveira
Production Team
Head of Craft Daniel Mortensen Senior Designer Claire Sutton (Packaging) Head of Creative Technology Brendan Forster Senior Digital Producer Joshua Speight Senior Finished Artist Anna Ballard Digital Designers Ivan So, Sebastian Perez de Arce, Marissa Karolyi Developer Dale Emrose AMV BBDO Agency Producer Cleo Hodgkinson Production Company Plaza Films Director Paul Middleditch Executive Producer Paul Masterton Managing Director Emily Perrett Group Account Director Madeline Marsh Senior Account Director Matty Graham Senior Account Director Lena Galbraith Senior Account Director Emily Taylor Account Manager Katie Scrutton Account Coordinator Brooklyn Andrews Head of Planning Kit Lansdell AMV BBDO Group Account Director James Drummond Senior Account Director Jonny White Account Manager Stephen Adams Agency Planner John McDonald
Other Credits
Global Brand Director, Mars Food Richard Stear Marketing Director, Mars Food Australia Tim Hicks Marketing Director Food, Mars UK Chris Wragg Marketing Manager Dolmio, Mars UK: Ian Nundy Marketing Manager, Mars Food Australia Shelley Crowe Brand Manager, Mars Food Australia Lauren Dragicevich Agency partners Media Agency MediaCom Buying Agency Starcom PR Ogilvy PR
Date
August 2016
Background
Dolmio was Australia's leading pasta sauce brand, and Spaghetti Bolognese was Australia's 5th most popular meal. So naturally, in 2016 Dolmio had good sales results, right? Not quite. More and more, shoppers were gravitating toward more exotic meals: Indian, Asian, Mexican, and less Italian. This led to Dolmio losing 1.1% value share and 1.9% penetration. The brand needed a shot in the arm, fast.
The world had a problem - technology had hijacked family dinnertime. Could Dolmio help?
Idea
The Dolmio Pepper Hacker was a pepper mill, which had hidden within it custom software which could turn off all the tech in the house when Mum gave it a twist.
It tricked all the smart devices within the home to disconnect from the WiFi network and connect to the Pepper Hacker's in-built WiFi chip, blocking all outgoing data.
A message was then served encouraging people to enjoy dinner together. Dolmio made thousands of Pepper Hackers and gave them away via an on-pack promotion. To win one, people had to upload a photo proving why they needed one. A campaign site detailed the tech and allowed people to enter the competition and an online film helped spread the word. Winners received their Pepper Hackers in covert packaging.
Results
The ambition was to reach 5,000,000 Australians. In the event, 12,845,000 Australians were reached, 156% above target.
The campaign generated 269 pieces of PR coverage globally, including Good Morning America, watched by 4.4 million daily.
Penetration grew by 0.6%, an extra 144,000 people purchasing Dolmio.
The goal was to grow value sales by 3% vs one year ago and, in fact, sales grew by +7.1%. The brand's value share grew +1.8%.
Our Thoughts
This started life a couple of years ago with a viral film, which, I am presuming, led to a huge demand by Mums everywhere for the Pepper Hacker. I raved about the idea when I first saw it because it tapped so neatly into the zeitgeist. If you're over 40, you're worried that the young are so tuned in to the virtual world, they are turned off in the actual world.
The idea has now been ramped up with 3,500 of the devices being made available to the most deserving homes and a new (and very funny) video.
By answering the pleas of Aussie Mums, Dolmio have scaled up the original idea considerably. It is still totally relevant, still very funny and still worthy of a Cannes Lion.