When the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, governments worldwide mandated their citizens to stay indoors. When all businesses and schools were closed down, consumers turned to cooking, baking, shopping online and starting DIY projects.
For an American baking supplies company, King Arthur Flour saw their consumers were baking their own bread, and sales rose to more than 2,000 percent year over year. The company took the chance to rebrand – changing the logo and name to reflect its commitment to “kneading joy in the kitchen.”
Before COVID-19, King Arthur conducted consumer research and learned its consumers have always baked as a coping mechanism. The insights that it gained led to its first campaign focusing on how baking has the power to bring people together.
King Arthur worked together with a production house and an agency to produce a 60-second commercial. The video focused on real-life bakers from New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans cooking in their kitchens with their family and friends.
Accompanied the commercial is a custom song called “Rise Again” to inspire hope in an unprecedented year.
The campaign ran until January 2021 and garnered positive reactions from the audience. Its vice president of marketing, Bill Tine, also said people noticed the song and that they want “to show how baking could be at the heart of the solution to cultural tension, and we wanted something soulful.”
Despite kicked off the campaign ahead of the usual holiday shopping months, Tine said although things are entirely different, the messages are evergreen.
Lastly, Tine explained that consumers could also watch their stories and learn their recipes on other King Arthur channels other than highlighting the bakers in the video.
