Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is a professional condiment brand serving restaurant owners and chefs.

In 2021, however, the business faced two key challenges.

Firstly, restaurants were some of the hardest hit by COVID-19. While China managed the pandemic better than most, there were nonetheless lingering effects felt by the industry. Despite the broader economic recovery from COVID-19, consumer spending on meals was still down -17% at the end of 2020 (China Bureau of Statistics).

Secondly, young diners – who make up 65% of restaurant consumption in China – have tastes that are changing faster than ever before.

Since 2017, UFS has been helping restaurants adapt to changing tastes through their ‘Killer Recipe’ campaign. This campaign inspires restaurant operators with on-trend recipe ideas while promoting UFS' product superiority.

Across the business, our target was to increase sales, as well as increase product penetration by +45%.

STEP 2: CONVERT CHEFS INTO CUSTOMERS

As restaurant operators and chefs saw Killer Recipes’ demand take off, we targeted them, incentivising Chefs and owners to download the Killer Recipes to include on their own menus. Restaurants who joined the initiative were supported in their promotion of the Killer Recipe dishes with offline pop-up merchandising.

We worked with Tencent to create a specific chef target audience based off look-a-like-modeling from UFS' official WeChat account. The chefs were targeted with UFS ads, driving to an H5 page where they could download the Killer Recipes and join the initiative, in exchange for leaving their contact information for the UFS’ sales team.

In addition to passing on key contact information, we also shared with our frontline sales team which “Killer Recipe” dishes the lead had show interest in and linked restaurants to Tencent Maps to seamlessly get them to the right place.

STEP ONE: BUILD APPETITE

To find the recipes that would attract young Chinese diners, we collected and analysed big data from Weibo and Dianping for inspiration.

Then, working with four external expert chefs, as well as more than 70 brand consultants and gourmet KOLs, we developed dish concepts based on UFS ingredients. These concepts were then tested by 600 high-value young diners who voted on the final recipes.

We unveiled the Killer Recipes at four top restaurants, attended by 60 KOLs who helped share the experience on Douyin and Weibo, while we also created a short branded film to drive social buzz.

We then shifted towards converting interest into footfall. We promoted the dishes on Dianping, WeChat and Douyin, targeting ‘young foodie’ audiences. On China’s top lifestyle app, Dianping, users could download dish coupons that they could redeem directly at participating restaurants, linking content directly to footfall.

STEP 2: CONVERT CHEFS INTO CUSTOMERS

As restaurant operators and chefs saw Killer Recipes’ demand take off, we targeted them, incentivising Chefs and owners to download the Killer Recipes to include on their own menus. Restaurants who joined the initiative were supported in their promotion of the Killer Recipe dishes with offline pop-up merchandising.

We worked with Tencent to create a specific chef target audience based off look-a-like-modeling from UFS' official WeChat account. The chefs were targeted with UFS ads, driving to an H5 page where they could download the Killer Recipes and join the initiative, in exchange for leaving their contact information for the UFS’ sales team.

In addition to passing on key contact information, we also shared with our frontline sales team which “Killer Recipe” dishes the lead had show interest in and linked restaurants to Tencent Maps to seamlessly get them to the right place.

The campaign effectively delivered scorching hot results for Unilever Food Solutions across its B2C and B2B objectives:

B2C:

The ‘Killer Recipe’ topic on Weibo was viewed 200 million times within 10 days of launch (+193% YOY) and the brand video was viewed 19 million times.

More than 255,000 consumers downloaded coupons on Dianping within 6 days (+88% above forecast).

B2B:

(See confidential results)

This led to a 460% increase in UFS’s sales, outpacing market growth 6.8x

Market penetration improved 118% vs our target of +45%.

Thanks to our innovative B2C2B approach, Unilever Food Solutions is now in a strong position to lead the restaurant industry’s recovery in 2021.