Hellmann’s, Unilever’s line of condiments, position themselves as solving a problem, not selling a product. Most food & beverage brands differentiate themselves from competition on taste & quality/use of ingredients. In the world of condiments, this is difficult as most consumers perceive this segment to be functional.
The Hellmann’s unique marketing strategy team at Unilever understood this and have long positioned their brand as one that encourages creativity in cooking and food. Over the last 3 or so years, they have been championing solving the food waste problem at home using Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

Bring out the best

In 2019, Unilever launched the ‘Bring out the best’ campaign in UK. The campaign by  Ogilvy UK & Unilever asked people to get leftovers from their fridge for Hellmann’s to transform into ‘new’ meals using their range. David Hertz, a celebrity Chef, transformed people’s leftovers into five-star meals using the Hellmann’s range.

This campaign is a great example of embedded marketing, where the potential of the product is incorporated into a strong social message. Not only did it receive organic coverage from news outlets, it was popular on social media too.

Previous success

Ogilvy and Hellmann’s had previously done a similar campaign in Canada in 2018, which informed Canadians that they waste enough food every minute to feed a stadium. In the advert, they showcased feeding a stadium full of people with food waste from grocery stores.

Delivering a fully integrated campaign pinned on the message, ‘more real food for real people’, the brand created a mini digital site where people can find food rescue tips, recipes and facts on food waste.

The campaign earned 13.5MM+ impressions & influencer content achieved 2MM+ organic impressions (3.5x the industry benchmark). Their mini digital site with educational tips on reducing food waste had a view-through rate of +80% above industry benchmarks.

2020

Based on the success of their campaign in Canada and also the ‘Bring out the Best’ campaign in the UK, they launched the ‘Turn nothing into something’ campaign in Canada in 2020 and the Fairy Godmayo ad in the US in time for Super Bowl.

In 2020, as an initial step towards the larger vision to reduce food waste, the brand started the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund. This has already saved 1.2 million pounds of food waste from farms and redistributed this food to communities in need. 

Embedding sustainability in the brand’s DNA

The Hellmann’s initiative, “Make Taste, Not Waste”, is part of Unilever’s “Future Foods” ambition, which launched globally in 2020 with two key objectives: to help people transition towards healthier diets and to help reduce the environmental impact of the global food chain. One of the key “Future Foods” commitments is to halve food waste in Unilever’s direct global operations from factory to shelf by 2025.

This initiative was also lauded by Daniel Balaban, Director of UN in Brazil who mentioned, “The idea is an extremely important wake-up call on food waste”.

Not only does Hellmann’s have a focus on food waste but they are leading the way in terms of how they are sourcing the plastic used in their bottles and caps. In 2018, they started making their bottles 100% recyclable.

Embedding the food waste cause deep into the brand’s image, has helped Unilever breathe life into what is otherwise a commoditised condiment. They have tapped into a segment of consumers who will stay loyal to the brand due to the causes the brand stands for, which is crucial for the year ahead.