As the end of another year rolls in, it’s that time when we all start to reminisce on the events of the last 12 months. And here at Hatch, that includes taking a look back at the best PR campaigns we’ve seen during 2022.
In this blog, we round up our top five favourite foodie campaigns from 2022 that got us, and the media, talking…
- Cadbury – Sign with Fingers
In a purpose-led campaign, Cadbury Fingers partnered with the National Deaf Children’s Society for its ‘Sign with Fingers’ campaign – aiming to encourage us all to learn a little BSL (British Sign Language), and help deaf people feel more included in day-to-day conversations.
To launch the campaign, Cadbury Fingers created a powerful, silent video telling the story of a young girl who often feels excluded from conversations as a result of being deaf. The BSL is translated into English through subtitles, however, throughout the video, some of the subtitled words are ‘accidentally’ covered by items in the video – allowing the viewer to feel some of the girl’s frustrations first-hand.
The brand also partnered with Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, who was born deaf, to create a similar video, where subtitles are hidden by her legs in the video.
The campaign received widespread national coverage, as well as driving lots of positive conversations across social media.
- Deliveroo – Chipwatch
As temperatures soared this summer, many Brits took to the beaches to enjoy the warm weather. However, as most of us will know, the British seaside brings with it the risk of seagull attacks on innocent beach-goers.
In a bid to protect Brits from food-stealing seagulls, Deliveroo installed ‘Chipwatch’ zones in Brighton and Scarborough – patrolled by crew members with reflective umbrellas and decoy hawks to keep the zones seagull-free.
Not only this, Deliveroo also partnered with herring and seagull expert, Dr Madeleine Gomas, to create the world’s first seagull-repellent track, ‘Bye Gull Bye’, using melodic and climatic calls from birds such as falcons and eagles to scare away the ferocious scavengers. The song was then released on Spotify, enabling beach-goers and chip-lovers to be armed wherever they are.
The light-hearted stunt completely resonated with Brits across the country, helping the campaign to prove to be a huge success.
- Quorn – No More Porkies
Quorn’s No More Porkies campaign is a great example of how brilliant PR campaigns don’t have to cost the earth. Sometimes all you need is a simple idea, executed well.
On Boris Johnson’s final day in office as the UK’s Prime Minister, Quorn launched a humourous ‘pork-free’ sandwich truck stunt outside the Houses of Parliament.
Making a jibe at the outgoing Premier following the partygate scandal, the plant-based brand drove a van around Parliament with a sign reading ‘No More Porkies’.
As part of the activation, Quorn also handed out free meat-free sandwiches to Londoners, filled with Quorn’s new deli slices: Yorkshire Ham style Slices and Finely Sliced Ham Style slices.
- Birds Eye – Green Cuisine
In a tongue-in-cheek campaign, Birds Eye decided to promote its new plant-based range by going head-to-head with KFC. With the new Green Cuisine range including meat-free chicken dippers, Birds Eye ceased the opportunity to take on the fried chicken giant in an eye-catching way.
In a daring campaign, Birds Eye plastered its green billboards directly over existing KFC ones, claiming ‘it doesn’t have to be chicken to make you wanna lick your fingers” – referencing KFC’s iconic slogan ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’.
While predominantly an ad campaign, the stunt still made headlines in the press, as well as causing a stir on social media.
The billboard followed Birds Eye’s £4.4m ‘Welcome to the plant age’ campaign which featured new animated characters, running across TV ads, digital marketing, new packaging, and in-store support.
- Mars Wrigley – No Bounty Celebrations
With one-in-four people saying they’d prefer the coconut treat to be removed from Celebrations selection boxes, Mars Wrigley launched a PR stunt announcing limited-edition Celebrations tubs that were completely free of Bountys.
The special No Bounty tubs were made available at 40 selected Tesco Christmas Market pop-ups across the country during November and December.
The news with met with delight from chocolate loving Brits, and the story made headlines in national titles as well as regional newspapers – advising local residents of where and when they could get their hands on a tub.
Is your favourite 2022 foodie campaign not on our list? Tweet us your thoughts at @Hatch_Group
