In 2018, KitchenAid launched a new campaign to connect with those who love to create in the kitchen. A year later, however, KitchenAid was missing the mark with an entire generation of up-and-coming makers who still saw the brand as old fashioned(1). Realizing advertising alone wouldn’t move the needle, KitchenAid sought to align its purpose - creating possibility in the kitchen - with a modern cause to restore its relevance and capture the attention of today’s food culture-obsessed millennials who haven’t connected with the brand. We started with KitchenAid’s history, which tells a less known, more progressive story. Since its founding, women have shaped KitchenAid: from naming the brand to an unprecedented all-female team selling mixers door-to-door despite women’s domestic limitations at the time. Reflecting on its legacy and opportunity for impact, KitchenAid identified its cause in the culinary industry, where women are denied equal possibilities in professional kitchens.

Our idea was inspired by the ironic tension that women were once told to “get back in the kitchen” to keep them in their place, yet decades later, women who dream of working there struggle to succeed. To best tell this nuanced and provocative story, we partnered with Academy-Award winner Rayka Zehtabchi to make a film. We also hired a team of investigative journalists to “story hunt” for women at pivotal moments in their career, knowing authentic, untold stories have the power to evoke emotions and ultimately change minds. The resulting film, A Woman’s Place, is a beautiful documentary that invites viewers to join an aspiring butcher, chef and restaurateur on their journeys, experiencing their challenges and triumphs as they unfold in real time. Our film aims to the problematic adage - ‘A woman’s place is in the kitchen’ - on its head, empowering women to reclaim their rightful place.

Spurred by the shocking statistic that half of all culinary school graduates are women, yet only 7% of executive chefs are women(2), we saw our film as the best way to start a necessary conversation. Others have highlighted these statistics before, but we wanted to humanize the data by dimensionalizing it through real stories. When further research revealed that women are often excluded from coveted roles due to outdated beliefs - from hands being “too small” to be a butcher to being better suited for a front-of-house role after being hired as a chef - these biases became central to our story and mission of championing a new narrative. Beyond driving awareness and dialogue, our overarching strategy was to spark collective action, empowering industry-wide change, so we partnered with James Beard Foundation to launch a bespoke, women-centric mentorship program.

After shooting on location in Minnesota, California and London, the pandemic caused a global lockdown, resulting in fully remote post-production and editing. Faced with the realities of COVID-19, our launch plan pivoted from a focus on film festivals and out-of-home to prioritization of streaming platform acquisition and redesigning assets like film posters for social. The team also looked for ways to stay true to the narrative as the restaurant industry faced uncertainty. With a film intentionally light on branding to mitigate feeling like an ad, we secured a rare brand partnership with Hulu and launched the film alongside Hulu’s Women’s Equality Day homepage collection. The film was the center of a fully integrated campaign across paid, owned and earned channels, which also included a call for consumers and industry insiders to recognize women in culinary who deserve the spotlight and join KitchenAid in sharing their support for #CulinaryEquality.

KitchenAid, through the “A Woman’s Place” program, sparked new dialogues around #CulinaryEquality, enabling KitchenAid to build relevance and meaning among the next generation of home and professional makers. Our PR strategy allowed us to position KitchenAid as a champion for culinary equality, expanding perception of how KitchenAid supports the industry beyond a supplier of its most iconic tools and delivering cause-related relevance to the brand.

• 22pt lift in culinary inequality issue awareness(7)

• 5.8pt lift in consideration(4)

• 8.8pt lift in agreement that KitchenAid creates possibilities in the kitchen(5)

• Social engagement rate 183% above benchmark(6)

• 1,550+ registered users8 on the mentorship platform to date

• Just three months after launch, the film reached 992M earned impressions - more than double our goal of 400MM - amidst a media space crowded with COVID, civil unrest and election coverage(3)