BuitoniWord of Mouth

Case Study

Executive Summary

• When consumers think of Italian cooking at home, dried and frozen pasta often comes to mind. But when they think of restaurant-style quality, we want them to think of Buitoni.

• In order to generate greater awareness of the refrigerated pasta category and the Buitoni brand, the Buitoni brand team launched a pop-up event inside Chelsea Market in New York City from Monday, October 20 – Friday, October 24, 2008.

Our Objectives included:

• Encouraging trial of Buitoni products in a premium way

• Stimulating word-of-mouth to generate greater awareness and engage new audiences to consider Buitoni products

– Providing consumers with new usage occasions for Buitoni, increasing frequency and buying rate and capturing increased share of stomach

Program Elements

Word of Mouth Program Overview• Pop-Up Event inside Chelsea Market in NYC, which featured:

- Cooking station, with live on-site cooking demonstrations by Chef Rosario - Product sampling- Retail display and traveling mobile commerce unit - Distribution of branded recipe books and wine pairing guides

• iTV filming with on-site demonstrations by Chef Rosario and distribution via broadcast TV, station websites and print media with websites

• Media deskside briefings with our chef• Campaign-specific Web site, blog, Facebook

page and email invitations

• Blogger outreach to drive web traffic and encourage consumer engagement

• Mobile marketing campaign, including guerilla marketing initiatives to generate awareness, engage consumers, and drive traffic to the event

Chelsea Market Storefront Summary• The Buitoni kitchen was the main focus of this

Italian bistro set-up. Situated in the center of the event footprint, consumers walking through the marketplace could not help but notice the chef creating enticing meals with fresh ingredients.

• Chef Andrea, who often spoke in fluent Italian, interacted with the guests to explain just how easy it is to create one of the Buitoni masterpieces. Lunch samples were served from 11am to 3pm and dinner samples from 3pm to 7pm. The menu featured 10 total meals and guests were encouraged to take home recipe booklets in order to recreate the meals on their own.

Chelsea Market StorefrontThe storefront in Chelsea offered four different activation areas to entice the taste buds of the

everyday consumer:

– Kitchen – A cooking area was set-up for the Chef to do a live cooking demonstration and sample ten (10) different recipes from Buitoni throughout the week.

– Café – Patio tables and chairs, reminiscent of an Italian sidewalk café, allowed for customers to sit down and enjoy their Buitoni food samples. The atmosphere was enhanced with Italian themed music being played throughout the marketplace.

– Retail Merchandising – Through the video loop and display refrigerators, consumers were able to see the different products Buitoni has to offer.

– Voting Fountain – Consumers were able to vote for their favorite sauce by tossing a penny into the fountain representing their sauce choice.

Chelsea Market Storefront Elements Voting Fountain

• Along the left wall, four beautiful stone fountains with constant running water to give a “walk in Tuscan village” feel to the room.

• Guests were given a penny to pitch into a fountain of their choice. Each represented one type of Buitoni fresh sauce: Alfredo, Marinara, Pesto, and Vodka. The number of “votes” was tallied each day to determine which sauce guests most preferred. After the five day event, Buitoni Fresh Pesto Sauce was selected as the People’s Choice.

• These fountains also served as a nice wishing well to cater to visting guests with children who could take part. This created a true family oriented event.

Poll Results

Vodka Alfredo Pesto Marinara Total

Event 331 396 460 261 1,448

Text 1 1 6 0 8

Online 7 4 8 4 23

Total 339 401 474 265 1,479

Program Enhancements

•Maximized Chef Rosario’s presence at market with broadcast and print media outreach

–Filmed segments at Chelsea Market reaching TA via broadcast and online channels

•iTV•Daily Buzz•Health & Home Report

–Scheduled deskside meetings with new Food Network magazine, Food & Wine and Food Network TV

Campaign Microsite

BUITONI Go Italian! Blog

Savor BUITONI Facebook Fan Page

Twitter Profile

Integrated Campaign Overview

YouTubeOnline influencers

NYC Gastronomes

National media

Local media

Foodies

Blog coverage

comparisons Recipes & tips

Viral content

Event Updates

company info

Chef Profile

customers

Consumer reviews

NYC consumers

messageboards

NYC Gastronomes blogs

Facebook

Del.icio.us

MySpace

TwitterConsumers

NYC Gastronomes

Bloggers Online Influencers

Foodies

Mobile Marketing

social networks Integrated

Media Tour

Online Monitoring

Microsite

Online Outreach

Buitoni Pop up retail

Word of Mouth Marketing

Online conversationsevents

Twitter

Program Metrics

Metrics

Campaign Component Estimated Metric Actual

Pop-up Event at Chelsea Market

500 visitors/day (2,500 total)800 samples/day1,000 recipe booklets distributed/day

More than 5,000 total visitors5,151 samples distributed7,224 recipe books and 7,680 pairing cards distributed

Mobile Commerce Cart 30 items/per day4 units sold60 free product units*

iTV, HHR Distribution24 million Web impressions, 7 million broadcast impressions

24 million Web impressions, 7 million broadcast impressions between October and December.

Microsite, Facebook Fan Page, Mobile marketing campaign and Online Editorial Outreach (OEO) to drive web traffic and encourage consumer engagement

5 million Web impressionsPickup on 20 food-centric blogs 200 text messages received 5,000 page views on the microsite

Conducted outreach to 87 online influencers and generated coverage in 15 food-centric blogs to dateMore than 6,500 page views on the microsite122 text messages received

Through the development of an integrated word of mouth marketing campaign, we were able to exceed most of our objectives:

*Based on mobile marketing campaign tactic to generate traffic from Chelsea Market to mobile commerce units around NYC.

Online MeasurementBuitoni share-of-voice increased during the second time period, yet overall activity for the

competitors decreased. Bertolli was higher during the first time period because of a promotion on the Ellen show, and Barilla increased due to multiple marketing events, including discussion of a

commercial for their whole wheat pasta and of a marathon sponsorship.

Buitoni & Competitors, Share-of-Voice, All Sources, 10/10-11/5Buitoni & Competitors, Share-of-Voice, All Sources, 9/13-10/9

N=258N=312

Relevant DiscussionsTimeline analysis reveals spikes are mostly attributed to coupon postings and multiple

Bertolli events. The Buitoni linear line shows the trend upward over time.

17

Bertolli giveaways on the Ellen

Degeneres show

Multiple Barilla coupon/recipe

postings

News article on pasta and Noodle market increasing in Hong Kong and

South America, mentions

Nestle, owner of Buitoni, sees 8.9% organic growth from January to September

Multiple discussion

board posting about Barilla House Party

Pack

Bertolli sweepstake

s on their website,

giving away microweava

ble pasta sauce

Activity Timeline, Buitoni & Comp, 9/21-10/28

Multiple Buitoni recipe postings

Multiple postings of article from San Francisco Chronicle in which Safeway

Pasta beat out 9

other pasta

brands for taste.

Buitoni came

second.

Online Editorial Outreach

Metrics

2,100 unique visitors per month and almost 750

blogs linking in

Metrics

More than 2,000 visitors per month

Online Editorial Outreach

Anecdotal Consumer Feedback

• Consumers were impressed with the Buitoni recipe book, commenting that the recipes were original and unique, including new combinations, such as the Tortellini Alfredo with Peas and Bacon.

• Being able to see the wide array of Buitoni product was key to those consumers who were unfamiliar with the brand. Many people wanted to purchase a product then and there; upon finding out that they could not, they immediately asked where the product could be found locally.

• “This is such a quick, simple, and delicious meal to prepare for my children in between our hectic schedules.”

• “Wow! I love what you have done with this usually empty space. Will you be here permanently?”

• “YOUR PESTO IS THE BESTO!”

• “Your whole wheat ravioli is delicious. I wish you offered some more wheat pasta options.”

• “I have been cooking with Buitoni for years and LOVE what you have done with the recent product line.”

• “I hate to cook, but I would take the time to make this.”