These days, everyone’s removing artificial stuff from their food, and they love advertising it. But when it came to re-launching Kraft’s iconic mac & cheese, we knew we had to do things differently, because the power of suggestion is strong. So we decided not to advertise the change at all. When the new recipe was finally ready, Kraft packaged it in old boxes, changing only the ingredient label. Then we watched as millions of people unknowingly participated in an activity that promoted Kraft's new recipe: eating it without noticing a thing. After three months and 50 million boxes sold, we announced that we’d pulled off the largest blind taste test in history, and that America’s silence had proven the new recipe tasted the same, and we continued to watch America love it for all of 2016.

Kraft removed artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from their mac and cheese in 2015. Although Kraft originally planned to begin advertising the new recipe when they started selling it, we counseled them to stay quiet for a few months to prove nobody would notice a change in taste. In September 2015, Kraft began printing 50 million new boxes that looked exactly like their old ones, updating only the ingredient label to covertly sell the new recipe. They began shipping these boxes to stores nationwide in November 2015. In December 2015, stores began selling the new recipe, unbeknownst to their employees or customers.

On March 7, 2016, our campaign announced that millions of people participated in the largest blind taste test in history, and their silence proved the new recipe tasted like the original. We continued spreading that message throughout 2016 with new executions that kept the recipe top-of mind.

The taste test was covered by hundreds of media outlets, from E! to the New York Times, and 92% of the articles had a positive tone.

Three weeks after announcing we’d pulled off the largest blind taste test ever, the campaign had over one billion earned media impressions and had driven a 6% increase in purchase intent and an 8% increase in purchase frequency. It also generated a 291% increase in visits to kraftmacandcheese.com compared to the previous month.

Most importantly, 50 million boxes of mac and cheese were sold during the three-month taste test period, a figure consistent with the same quarter of the previous year, and less than 40 people reported a change in taste via social and consumer hotline channels. Those figures helped us eliminate concern about a change in taste, because they proved that this Kraft Mac & Cheese still tasted like Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Last year, Kraft Mac & Cheese lovers participated in an activity to promote the new Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with no artificial flavors, preservatives or dyes. And they did it without knowing they were even participating. Until we told them.

There were three audiences for this brief: loyalists, switchers and new users. Kraft wanted to reassure loyalists that the taste wasn’t changing, which is why the blind taste test was targeted at people who eat Kraft Mac & Cheese on a regular basis. Kraft also felt confident that the campaign would attract new users and switchers by showcasing their ingredient changes while reminding people of the iconic taste of Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Our approach to promo and activation was a little different in that we engaged millions of consumers in this promotion without their knowledge. Kraft consumers unknowingly participated in a blind taste test to promote the new recipe, and the lack of outcry allowed us to create an activation in the form of an integrated campaign.

In April 2015, Kraft announced they would be removing all artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from their macaroni & cheese. While some people were ecstatic, many Kraft loyalists were extremely worried that taking out the artificial stuff would change the iconic Kraft Mac & Cheese taste that Americans have loved for almost 80 years. Even though Kraft had done years of testing and multiple iterations of the new recipe to make sure they got the taste and color just like the original, people were still concerned. We were tasked with promoting the change, but we knew we had to tread lightly.