The 100 course Dinner
A prime cut of steak, gnocchi in red cream sauce, mushrooms sautéed in garlic and extra virgin olive oil, a nice red wine, and of course a cappuccino. It’s not the menu most heartburn remedies tout as their torture test. Do you actually know anyone who eats chili cheese dogs, fried mozzarella sticks and blooming onions? Even if you do, that marketing space is well trod. Positioning Pepcid in a more contemporary way made a lot of sense to differentiate in the category. It made even more sense based on the insight we uncovered. To food enthusiasts, a meal is more than sustenance. It’s a catalyst for sociability. But heartburn makes it miserable to spend time around the table with the people who matter most. This lead to the campaign Carpe Dinner, seize the meal and all that comes with it. The campaign launched in print, supported by dynamic display, social and pre-roll.
The 100 Course Dinner was an activation, a non-traditional demo, and a way to shoot a lot of assets under our “scrappy not crappy” mantra. It started with the idea of demonstrating that just one Pepcid works all day. We worked with a celebrity chef to prepare one hundred courses for a group of food influencers who would sit at the table, and share their experience with more than 4.6 million followers. We planned all of the assets required for an eighteen-month flight. And covered it live as an industrial shoot, with six cameras coordinated on a laptop by a director experienced in filming events. An extra plate was prepped for each course, and sent directly to a food photographer. And a second roving unit photographed the kitchen, influencers and behind the scenes.
We were on the hook for a projected +14% sales increase. We beat the forecast with a +25% actual sales increase, while the heartburn category declined by -1%.