CARGILL SALT SPICES UP A LOW-INTEREST CATEGORY

Challenge

How do you make a low-interest consumer product — like salt — entertaining? Cargill, maker of Diamond Crystal salts, may sell the No.1 kosher salt to professional chefs and be well known across the food channel. But many consumers think salt is just salt. We needed to give consumers a reason to care and offer professional and celebrity chefs a platform to act as evangelists on Cargill’s behalf.

Idea

We set out to position Diamond Crystal kosher salt as the only salt for those who know what they’re doing, creating awareness and preference among foodies and professional chefs. The Great Recession was bringing people back into the kitchen. However, they wanted to do more than heat and eat—they wanted to learn how to cook. Furthermore, half of women consumers use the Internet to get product information, and are used to “info-tainment” on popular food sites.

Carmichael Lynch Spong leveraged, one of the most credible and popular Food Network stars, both among consumers and chefs, to engage Web-savvy food lovers and professional chefs in a compelling campaign for Diamond Crystal, “Salt 101.”

The video-rich campaign included a ground-breaking, interactive microsite — www.salt101.com—traditional media relations and social media relations, paid advertising, public TV underwriting and targeted trade show events.

The work demonstrated that a robust user experience, compared to anything competitive seasonings manufacturers are doing in the marketplace, would appeal to the target audience.

Results

Since its launch, salt101.com has had 250,000 visitors and the number continues to climb. We’ve earned millions of paid and earned media impressions. The campaign has been recognized with awards from digital, advertising and PR authorities and peers including PRSA, PR News, FWA and more.

Info

Client: Cargill
Date: 3/22/2012
Link: www.cargill.com/salt