Television turned broccoli into miracle food
“This case study definitely proves the ongoing power of television advertising. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of television as the foundation for multi-screen communication strategies”. Theresa Treutler, Television Bureau of Canada
Okay so here’s something a bit different. In 2009 the Television Bureau in Canada (TVB) set out to investigate the effectiveness of television advertising. To do this they chose an unlikely hero, broccoli, to prove that television advertising is as influential and effective as ever.
The background
Various polls and studies painted conflicting images of the state of the Canadian TV advertising market. Whilst some studies suggested consumers were abandoning time in front of the TV for the Internet, other reports suggested that the TV advertising market was on target to smash all previous growth targets. Deciding that all of this contrasting info was confusing, the TVB decided to carry out its own study to see if the effectiveness of TV was on the wane or on the up.
Behold the miracle of broccoli
It chose an unlikely hero in broccoli to prove a point, which was that TV builds brands, tells stories and guides and defines popular culture. If TVB’s ad campaign could get consumers excited about this most humble of foodstuffs, it would be proof that all of the above was true.
The campaign, dubbed The Miracle Food campaign aimed to raise top of mind awareness of broccoli by 20%, intent to purchase by 10% and increase actual sales by 5%, using nothing but TV. TVB knew it ran the risk of consumers skipping or not recalling its ads, but what it hoped to do was prove the power of TV to advertising and marketing communities, who were used to being bombarded with studies and media reports arguing either side of the TV relevance discussion.
By using only TV, the aim was to generate sufficient interest in a product that has not been advertised in recent memory by demonstrating that on its own, TV can increase sales, awareness and positive perceptions of broccoli.
The miracle plan
Three different creative executions aired between January 4 and February 7, 2010, pitting the ‘miraculous’ benefits of broccoli against other miracles in life. As this was purely a TV campaign, with no other marketing channels woven into the plan, a simple HTML website was set up to track results. There was no additional PR or campaign support.
The media was donated by TVB member stations and was run of schedule. Sixty-percent of the schedule was devoted to running ads on ‘conventional stations’ between 7 and 11pm, with the remaining 40 per cent dedicated to spots on speciality stations between the hours of 5pm and 12am.
60% of the campaign GRP’s (a TARP to you and me) were provided by conventional stations. Of those GRP’s, 60% were scheduled in peak (7pm-11pm) and the remaining 40% were in off peak.
40% of campaign GRP’s were provided by Speciality stations. Of those GRP’s, 60% were scheduled in peaktime (5pm-12am) and the remaining 40% were in off peak.
And did it work?
To measure the success of the campaign, TVB undertook a pre-post tracking study, conducted by Ipsos, in October 2009 and February 2010 to measure the impact of communications on consumer perceptions and awareness.
Top-of-mind awareness for broccoli went from receiving no mentions to being the second most recalled produce in the study. Thirteen percent of consumers responded that they had purchased at least one more bunch in their latest shopping trip as compared to the pre campaign period, while the intent to purchase at least one more bunch of broccoli also increased by 13%.
The campaign also successfully shifted perceptions of broccoli as the attribute ‘tasty’ increased by 15%, ‘healthy’ by 18%, ‘full of vitamins’ by 20% and ‘more nutritious than other vegetables’ by 64%.
In addition, unaided ad awareness reached 65%, and aided awareness 90% amongst respondents.
On the Internet (using Google metrics to track results), average mentions of “broccoli” or “miracle food” increased by 444% during the campaign and the weeks that followed, Broccoli’s fan page on Facebook attracted an additional 17,000 followers and more than 30,000 people were compelled to watch clips of the ad on You Tube.
Finally, the most rewarding of all metrics; Broccoli sales rose 8% versus same period in 2009 compared to 2010 according to AC Neilson, smashing the 5% target uplift.
