In 2020, shoppers consolidated their shopping trips due to health & safety concerns, and Kroger wasn't always top of mind for specialty holiday grocery items. As shoppers began to emerge from tough times and look forward to family gatherings in 2021, we needed to convince them that Kroger had inspirational items that would make their Holiday meals feel special enough for THIS important moment.

Thanks to Covid, 2020’s holidays could hardly be called a celebration. But as life slowly inched back to normal, the 2021 Holiday season was an opportunity to make up for that lost time by celebrating this year and last year at once. To show people how to make this holiday extra special, Kroger created a doubly special symbol — Doubly Special Dinnerware. Crafted by acclaimed ceramicist David Kim, who specializes in the creation of custom dinnerware for Michelin Star restaurants, this limited edition dinnerware set was meticulously designed to pack two years worth of holiday happiness into one. As the Holidays came to a close, our Doubly Special Dinnerware set ended up its journey at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, to ensure that future generations will never forget the Doubly Special Holidays of 2021.

We learned through a series of qualitative one-on-one interviews with our target audience that cooking for their family is their quality time. It’s an especially important unifying moment they value when thinking back on their Holiday traditions. But when the 2020 Holiday season hit, they couldn’t share meals with their family and friends, so cooking actually became an exciting way to go beyond their traditional staples. As a result, they became comfortable with the idea of fusing the new with the old, creating new Holiday traditions. After a year of downsized celebrations, this audience was already looking forward to recouping their Holiday traditions in a bold and uniquely “them” way. We needed to give them a symbolic way to show off their new culinary skills, while still making space for their families favorite holiday dishes.

Each piece of our Doubly Special Dinnerware consisted of two separate dishes fused together so people could celebrate two years of holidays at the same time. Handcrafted by a Michelin star ceramicist, the set took inspiration from traditional Chinese dinnerware. The shape of the handles was inspired by the Kroger logo, and each piece was handmade - giving the set a unique sculptural feel. The campaign was distributed organically with posts, stories and influencer collaborations on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, & TikTok with posts and stories running from Nov. 17th to Dec. 23rd.

The Double Plate films launched on Kroger’s social media, receiving over 134K impressions and over 30K views on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To extend the campaign, Kroger shared seasonal recipes that were plated on the Double Dinnerware on Facebook and Instagram throughout December. These videos received a total of 55,467 impressions, a 23% increase in impressions from the brand average. Content shared by influencers using Double Dinnerware also received an additional 91.6K impressions with 6.4% engagement – nearly doubling the prior benchmarks set of 3-4%. One of our Double Dinnerware sets lives on today at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, where visitors can admire the craftsmanship and reflect on the fitting cultural significance of the design.