Who: Campbell’s Canada, with Leo Burnett for strategy and creative, Proof for PR and influencer, and Spark Foundry for media.
What: “Brothtails,” a holiday campaign promoting the company’s line of unique-to-Canada specialty broths, with cocktails made using its top four flavours: Pork Ramen, Mushroom, Pho and Thai Chicken.
When & Where: The campaign is in market now, running through the holidays. The primary focus is on earned media, with social and influencer marketing driving to a dedicated recipe site at CampbellsBrothtails.ca. “It’s a bit more organic outreach, just to see if we can draw some attention from its quirky and unexpected nature,” said Campbell’s director of marketing, Sarah Broomfield.
Why: The campaign is aimed at introducing Campbell’s broths to a new generation of (millennial) consumers by demonstrating their versatility and the wide variety of flavours they’re capable of unlocking, said Broomfield.
Many Canadians regard Campbell’s as a nostalgic brand, said Broomfield, and this is an effort to reshape consumer perception. “I think if we’re going to attract this new generation of consumers, we knew we needed to do something unexpected,” she said. “Brothtails felt pretty unexpected.”
In September Campbell’s launched a campaign called “Change the broth, change the dish,” which specifically addressed how the various Campbell’s broths can completely change a dish’s flavour profile. The idea behind “Brothtails” was to provide consumers suggestions for what they could do with any leftover broth.
How: Working with Halifax-based mixologists The Clever Barkeep, Campbell’s developed four cocktail recipes that offer a broth-derived twist on traditional cocktails. They include the Mushroom Truffle Daiquiri, Thai Chicken Negroni, Pho Mango Bourbon Sour and Pork Ramen Mezcal Margarita. The unexpected inclusion of broth in cocktail recipes is specifically designed to generate consumer interest, said Broomfield. “It’s definitely meant to create that disbelief factor.”
While spirits and bone broth might seem like an odd combination, cocktails made with broth—which have been dubbed stocktails—have been around for a while now, although have seen a revival in recent years. The first-known example is the Bullshot (a cocktail made using beef broth that Esquire describes as “the bloody mary’s salty cousin from Detroit”), which has been around since the 1950s.
And we quote: “The primary use of our broth is going to be within cooking,” said Broomfield. “We know we’re a cooking aid for a lot of weeknight dinners, and we really help provide consumers with that easy solution that helps them put something together for their family really quickly. The cocktails are a nice extension of that.”
