There’s nothing funny about cold meats… unless you are Campofrío, the brand that differentiates itself from others in the cold meat category in Spain by being the only brand to use humour in its advertising. The brand knows Spanish consumers want and need to laugh. If consumers could see more of humour oriented content, our bond would be stronger. Our strategy was simple; if consumers wanted to watch our comedy, why pay for advertising? Why not pay for programming instead? We decided to make TV shows featuring comedians lasting minutes rather than ads lasting seconds. Spanish public TV channel (TVE) is renowned for its stand-up comics and fitted with the values of Campofrío. Unfortunately advertising on TVE, and therefore the presence of any brand, had been banned by law since 2010. We persuaded TVE to let Campofrío make these branded content shows on two conditions: The show could not display the Campofrío logo nor mention the brand and the programmess would be good enough to amuse the audience.

Spain is still experiencing a tough economic crisis, dramatically affecting the consumption of branded meats. Our insight was that consumers wanted to watch our branded humour. Campofrío is renowned for it. If consumers could see more of this content, our bond would be stronger. Our challenge was to find a new way to bond that would achieve more than we could with our paid advertising. We are not only interested in housewives but the whole family. We want to become part of their life and boost sales. We wanted to capture Spanish hearts and minds to make families smile.

Our first episode ‘Se hace saber’ broadcast premiered on Christmas Eve, when all the Spanish family meets, it was an instant hit. The audience spiked at almost 2 million; No1 Prime Time show in Spain that day.

Did the audience see the brand although it wasn’t shown or mentioned? Research based on what 2.664 viewers revealed:

• 46.6% of those who watched the programme associated the butcher with Campofrío.

• 75.5% valued positively Campofrío’s TV shows ‘Se hace saber’

• 47% thought that Campofrío’s programming favoured their purchase intention

In summary, we used content to communicate a brand that wasn’t seen or heard. Thanks to the branded content initiative we had a much-loved character ‘the butcher’ who became the main role of the brand’ traditional spot. Branded content, hand in hand with conventional advertising.