Find out about Berdie, Frank and Henry’s favourite recipes !

In early 2017 in the United Kingdom, the Tesco supermarket chain launched a “charm” operation to both restore confidence in the quality of its products, and to regain consumer confidence by placing them at the centre of its publicity.

Thus, the series of films celebrates “real Tesco shoppers” and the recipes they cook for their loved ones. And each one has their own story! For example, Birdie, head of a host family, shares her jerk chicken dish, which she cooks to make each of the children in her home feel welcome. Meanwhile, Henry explains how he reinvented his meals to take his vegetarian friend’s diet into account. For Frank, his lack of culinary ability led him to reinvent a recipe based on salmon. In short, stories that recount our daily lives, and which each of us can relate to.

The campaign has been developed for television, social networks and in-store. Drive to Store campaigns were also run, to direct preferences to Tesco brands, rather than a competitor such as Aldi or Lidl. In store, to maximise customer awareness, Tesco created display stands showcasing a specific story from the series, such as Nana’s “magic” soup. On these displays there were the recipe cards and the ingredients needed to make them. In the case of the “magic” soup, there was of course a photo of “Nana”.

Today, Tesco is using the same recipe,this time in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. For the first time in Central Europe, the ingredients and recipe cards for each “food story” will be available in supermarkets and online to help customers recreate their own meals at home.

In early April, Tesco announced that its annual pre-tax profits were up from last year’s figures, as the brand enters its ninth consecutive quarter of growth. These more than positive results give the company back some of its past lustre, after its historic loss of 6.4 billion pounds in 2015.

For Tesco, there is no doubt that by placing its “Food Love Stories” series at the heart of its creative production, it has significantly contributed to improving its image by speaking directly to consumers, winning back their hearts and minds! Between foresight and socialisation, this communications operation is part of a need for reassurance in terms of food quality and creating social links between consumers. It also echoes the logic of a network of customers that can turn into a group of brand ambassadors, intermeshing Tesco’s entire territory, as demonstrated by their version of the campaign in Central Europe.

It is also the work of their over 300,000 employees to collectively engage the brand by placing the customer at the centre of their concerns, illustrating one of the main convictions of Echangeur. When it comes to customer engagement, it’s not enough to be “Customer Centric“, but rather it is primarily the “Service Centric” dimension that drives well-targeted innovation.

Currently the videos and recipes from the “Food Love Stories” campaign can be found on the Tesco website, without a marked desire to go further and promote a community over the longer term.

But who knows? This communications operation, implemented over two years, is reminiscent of the first “OptOutside” campaigns, run by the American REI outdoors goods brand. For the last three years, this operation,

which encourages employees and customers to practice outdoor activities on Black Friday, has become REI’s positioning. So much so that this communications operation has now become a permanently available service on the REI website.

Thus, short-term communications operations whose ROI remains difficult to measure, can turn into a winning service, engaging customers over the long term.