Our idea was simple. Show Australia soup wasn't just for cold wintery nights. It was the answer for whatever life throws at you. In short, "We've got a soup for that." To give this line meaning, we would need to deliver it in contextual and relevant situations, tapping into people's interests and mindset to make the most of the message. It just so happened that Google had a beta they were looking to test. Using their new ‘Vogon’ platform, in an Australian first, we could dynamically embed headlines into a video to target individual versions that related directly to our audience’s searches on YouTube. For example, if you searched for Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' you'd be served a pre-roll that said "Cooking for one? We've got a soup for that." The result was, we didn't just give Australia five or ten different occasions to eat soup, we gave them over 1,700.

Based on YouTube's most searched categories and channels, we wrote countless headlines to match what people were watching and remind them of Campbell’s Soup. The headlines were then dynamically composited into a pre-roll video in real-time.

We also monitored social media and Google's real-time data throughout the campaign, identifying, on a daily basis, topical opportunities for new headlines. We jumped on the world’s most trending topics, including BREXIT, the U.S. Presidential Race and Pokémon Go, driving our message home in moments of increased relevance in order to truly modernize the brand. Over the four weeks our highly contextual messaging amassed almost 2 million impressions.

With a mission to reframe how a low-interest category like soup directly connects with people, and re-establish Campbell’s Soup’s cultural relevance, the campaign was a success. Over four weeks, more than 1 million people were reminded of the untold occasions and nourishing benefits of Campbell’s Soup. We landed over 1.9 million impressions, with a video view rate of 92.86%, and the campaign achieved a 24.7% lift in Ad Recall and a 6.9% lift in Brand Awareness for Campbell's Soup.

Best of all, there was a 55.6% increase in sales compared to 2015 with an additional study showing at least a 23% increase in sales being directly attributable to the advertising campaign - despite being beaten on price.

Campbell's Soup Australia's 'SoupTube' YouTube campaign, forming a part of the wider 'We've Got a Soup for That' brand campaign, saw the first use of Google's 'Vogon' advertising platform in Australia. Using Vogon's ability to insert bespoke headlines into videos, coupled with viewing data that helped to identify the top channels, searches and individual videos, we created the most relevant YouTube pre-roll campaign ever seen in the country, resulting in countless CTAs, customised based on our audiences viewing habits. This resulted in the most targeted and personalised Youtube pre-roll campaign ever seen in the country, perhaps even the world.

Our strategy was to present Campbell’s range of nourishing soups as the ‘answer’ to whatever life throws at you, giving people countless reasons to eat soup.

Data showed that in 2015, YouTube use by 18-49-year-olds, where our key Main Grocery Buyers sit, had increased by 74%. However, YouTube campaigns were often poorly targeted, leading to pre-roll being considered one of the more invasive digital formats.

Using Vogon, and the data amassed by Google on its users, we saw an opportunity to turn pre-roll from one of the most invasive formats into one of the most relevant. We could monitor the most popular search categories and channels amongst our audience of MGBs to find the most relevant contextual opportunities to remind people about Campbell's Soup. We could use real-time data to monitor topical events, adding new contextual messages in increased moments of relevance.

Campbell's, and the soup category in general, was losing relevance in Australian kitchens. The problem was that soup was only ever thought about when it was cold, a declining occasion in Australia, where 2016 was the hottest winter on record.

Our brief, with a focus on Campbell's higher yield, more premium products, was to increase the volume and variety of occasions for consuming soup as well as to modernise the Campbell's brand, bringing more light and lapsed soup buyers to the brand.