How does a storied icon like 155-year-old The Campbell’s Company (“Campbell’s”) continue to modernize and connect with new audiences in unexpected, meaningful ways? Campbell’s wanted to drive awareness and relevance with Gen Z and Millennials, showcasing its market-leading brands—Campbell’s Condensed, Pace, Pacific Foods, Prego, and V8—as innovative, modern-day solutions for busy consumers.
Instead of just targeting these consumers, Campbell’s wanted to go deeper. How do these key audiences consume content? What platforms and types of creative resonate most? How could we leverage new technology and data to insert Campbell’s brands into existing food conversations on social media?
The Project: Dotdash Meredith (DDM) and Campbell’s collaborated to create a “meal culture engine,” a never-been-done-before content incubator. At its core? Data. We leveraged DDM’s immense scale (reaching 49M Millennials and 17.8M Gen Z-ers), audience insights, predictive data, social listening/trend spotting tools, and editorial expertise to inform all content created.
Our Approach: The Meal Culture Engine’s two-pronged approach focused on a mix of (1) consultative recipe and trend development informed by AI-powered technology and (2) always-on, social-first video content designed to drive engagement.
Key Channels: By partnering with diverse DDM brands, including Allrecipes, EatingWell, Food & Wine, Parents, PEOPLE, Serious Eats, Simply Recipes, and Southern Living, we are able to test and leverage different voices to connect with key audiences. Whether through new social videos or reinvented recipe content, our dedicated team of data-informed storytellers translated trends before they peaked, bringing them to life in imaginative and easy ways, with Campbell’s brands at the center of it all.
Updated recipe content lives on Campbell’s owned and operated channels, with media drivers across DDM. Social videos are posted organically across both Campbell’s and DDM channels and native ads are amplified through relevant DDM brands across TikTok and Instagram.
Example Video Content:
Currently in its third year (with a commitment of 80+ total social videos and nearly 50 AI-driven recipe refreshes this year alone), our Meal Culture Engine’s intention is to replace the traditional content agency approach with a partnership that addresses content development, production, and distribution.
A multi-year approach has allowed for constant iteration. Content has proven immensely successful, reaching target Gen Z and Millennial consumers looking for new tips, hacks, and meal inspiration to make their lives easier and more interesting. Since September 2024, our campaign has delivered scale, with nearly 13 million total video impressions. Nearly 8 million impressions have driven to refreshed recipe content, with CTRs up to 253% above benchmark.
A Latitude Research Study showed how we increased relevance and connected with key consumers. After viewing the campaign, consumers were more likely to believe Campbell’s brands are innovative and offer creative recipe solutions. We’ve seen:
