PR Case Study: Speed – BuzzBites
Speed devised a thought leadership campaign, BuzzBites, to enable Nestlé Professional to gain cut-through in a competitive industry.
Campaign: BuzzBites
Client: Nestlé Professional
PR Team: Speed
Timing: Nine months across 2017
Summary
Nestlé Professional tasked Speed to come up with an innovative new PR model. Using social listening tools and media analysis, Speed planned and implemented an umbrella thought leadership campaign – “BuzzBites” – to bring recognition to new food service trends.
Speed designed the integrated campaign strategy to build stronger relations with media, influencers and customers.
Via a series of exclusive reveals, the programme released co-created industry content and insights over a number of quarters. Each reveal was delivered through shareable experiences which showcased the company’s commitment to helping the planet, industry and families.
The campaign not only achieved thought leadership cut-through, but also generated hundreds of new business leads. The initiative has also been recognised across the industry – ranging from winning the ‘Integrated Campaign of the Year’ at the PRCA DARE Awards to being shortlisted for the UK Content Awards.
Objective
Move away from traditional comms campaigns which weren’t delivering desired cut-through in a crowded marketplace.
Strategy and implementation
Every quarter saw Speed oversee the launch of a new BuzzBites initiative (spanning nine months), with five strategic storytelling pillars providing the foundation for each reveal:
- PR content: New proprietary research conducted to create insight-driven thought leadership e-zines to drive interactions and provide a strong news hook
- Pioneers: One or several keynote speakers known for breaking convention, being forward-thinking and recognised as exciting presenters who would interest the media. The pioneers co-created content for the e-zine, spoke at the insight launches and supported with promotion on social channels
- Place: A creative and unexpected setup, designed to be memorable, experiential and to inspire – an industry first format to create conversations
- Platform: An experience element to create buzz and provide memorable moments with an aim to get people talking and sharing. A social strategy was curated to encourage sharing of all content with incentives to drive downloads of the e-zine from the Nestlé Professional website
- People: Exclusive guest list comprising industry leading brands, customers and media who are passionate about the subject matter
The implementation of the campaign was split across quarterly activations across nine months.
The first event was the BuzzBites Nutrition, Health and Wellness event, which saw award-winning dietitian Lucy Jones host a talk on how nutrition, health and wellness can help businesses.
Held in an executive suite at the Casual Dining Show, innovators from Leon and Mindful Chef also contributed insights to a Good Food, Good Life report.
The second experience was named BuzzBites Breaking Industry Innovations. This involved a surprise tour of innovative brands and businesses while enjoying afternoon tea “on-the-go” to launch the Hyper Convenience report.
The final activation was BuzzBites Talent Attraction and Retention, which featured three meals, three tables and three talks.
The event featured an afternoon of inspiration, insight and networking at The Clink Restaurant in HMP Brixton – a unique restaurant within a prison which facilitates a training programme to upskill and rehabilitate prisoners.
This was the launch pad for the report Talking Talent: Taking an Innovative Approach to Tackling the Skills Shortage, which looked at how the industry can change perceptions.
Results
Speed’s campaign exceeded all of its KPIs, in some cases by as much as 300%:
Position as a thought leader
- Some 67 pieces of in-depth coverage in key titles (target of 20) of which 17 were thought leadership (target of eight)
- A 40% increase in thought leadership coverage compared to the previous year
Drive sales leads
Around 230 report downloads, equating to over 200 new high-quality leads
Deliver face-to-face opportunities to meet potential customers
Over 50 event attendees – from across key sectors
Provide new and insightful content
Around 1,200 page views of BuzzBites content
- Picture credit: Anthony Upton
