The Robertsons Reinvention Kitchen. A pop-up that changed everything. Every single day.

5 countries. 5 spices. 5 chefs. 5 days only.

Each day we completely re-invented a spice themed restaurant and re-themed the décor, menu and experience around an individual herb or spice in the signature blends and its country of origin.

Each restaurant took the name of a herb or spice Robertsons sources from somewhere in the world. 5 chefs created a 3-course food experience based on that featured herb or spice. Tickets were sold (and quickly sold out) online and media and guests could enjoy a unique experience, that included creating their own blends.

The Robertsons Reinvention Kitchen was an immersive experience that gave consumers a new-found knowledge of, and appreciation for, the sourcing and blending expertise that makes Robertsons “The Spice People”.

The Robertsons Reinvention Kitchen took place over 5 days: 21 to 25 September 2017 with two sittings each day. This also coincided with the “Heritage Day” public holiday in South Africa (the night on which the local spice Paprika was celebrated).

The physical structure was built at Melrose Arch – a prominent, upmarket mall in Johannesburg. Other than invited media representatives and influencers, guests were charged a nominal fee to secure a booking.

Each day, the restaurant was themed (food / décor / experience) around herbs and spices in the Robertsons signature blends and the countries from which they were sourced, hence Chilli from India, Marjoram from Egypt, Nutmeg from Indonesia, Paprika from South Africa and Pimento from Mexico.

Celebrity chefs were challenged to create and present a 3 course menu, with each course incorporating their chosen herb or spice. Each night was also hosted by well-known foodie personality.

Content appeared across numerous platforms and channels – YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Press, Blogs – and a hero film was created for amplification. In addition, celeb chefs, foodies, bloggers and media used their own platforms to amplify.

Results:

• Approaching 1.5 million views on YouTube.

• 2.9m Unique Views

• 1.9m views with 24 hours

• 60% Increase in subscriptions YouTube

• 19m impressions during week of the pop-up

• 25 068 social media engagements. And 1 847 posts … for a 5 day experience!

• #SpiceDiscovery trended 1st on SA Twitter on night 1 and continued to trend for 4 out of 5 nights during the campaign.

There was a 200bps improvement on key attributes around naturalness and “allows me to express my own creativity through cooking” during the campaign period vs prior period.

PR enjoyed an 8.8:1 Return on Investment (R700k spend generated R6 124 760 value).