Celentano won the vote. PENNY sold 65.8% more mici.
PENNY had a fresh meat counter, but few shoppers thought of PENNY for fresh meat. So we started with mici, Romania's grilled meat rolls, and gave four Las Fierbinți characters a recipe each. Then we let the country vote.
The campaign in two minutes.
2:10We needed to raise awareness of the new fresh meat department in PENNY stores and increase sales for this category.
The challenge.
Shoppers knew PENNY, but not for fresh meat.
PENNY had fresh meat departments in its stores, but shoppers didn't link the brand with fresh meat. It's also a crowded category, where every retailer and every butcher promises the same thing. So the campaign had two jobs.
Let people know PENNY sells fresh meat.
Grow sales in the category.
The idea.
Everyone has a mici recipe. So does Las Fierbinți.
PENNY Market's slogan was "Knows what we like". And there are few things Romanians like more than mici. So we asked four of the best-loved characters from Las Fierbinți, the country's most popular TV comedy, to cook them their own way.
Giani, Gianina, Firicel and Celentano each got a recipe and a short video.
People voted for their favourite online or by SMS.
Each character thanked their voters with GIFs, memes and short videos.
The videos ran on TV and social media. Celentano's recipe won, and everyone who joined in now knew where to buy fresh meat.
Pick a recipe. Then pick a side.
Tap a video to play with sound.
Where is Romania more Romanian than in Fierbinți?
0:36The target was +30%. Mici sales rose 65.8%.
More than double the 30% sales target.
Total sales went up by a quarter while the campaign ran.
The recipe videos were watched 1,513,455 times before people picked a favourite.
The results didn't keep us waiting. Awareness, likeability and… an increase in sales!
Why it worked.
We started with mici, not the meat counter.
Nobody gets excited about a meat department. Everyone has an opinion on mici, and the counter came along with them.
Characters people already loved.
Las Fierbinți came with years of goodwill. Watching Giani or Celentano make mici their way felt like a bonus episode.
The vote made people pick a side.
Once people pick a favourite, they keep watching. The characters thanked their voters with GIFs, memes and videos, so the conversation kept going until the winner was out.
Straight from the comments.
This is so cool! I watch Las Fierbinți and I always buy from PENNY.
YouTube userGreat idea to put them in an ad.
YouTube userLove it, I voted for Gianina.
YouTube user
