McCain Foods has taken to the streets with its latest frozen pizza product launch, partnering with marketing consultancy Extravert on a mobile pizza kitchen that’s exceeding campaign targets.
The companies have sourced a 1962 Chevy Truck from the US, which has been converted into a rustic pizza kitchen to enable customers to sample the FMCG brand’s new “rustica” wood-fired frozen pizza range.
Flavours include Spinach and Mozzarella with sun-dried tomatoes, margherita with fresh herbs and four cheese, with thousands of people targeted in the live engagement strategy.
From late August through to mid-October, Extravert is conducting the live activation and sampling at various locations in Melbourne and Sydney: high traffic areas such as Southern Cross Station, Westfield Knox, Queensbridge, St Kilda, Federation Square, Bondi Beach, Chatswood Mall, Cronulla, Parramatta and Martin Place. Many locations have also been selected to sample new McCain Rustic chips.
Daniel Cormack, Extravert’s senior account director, told Inside FMCG that there’s been no negative comments from McCain on its toe-tip into face-to-face activations so far, with Sydney expected to exceed original engagement targets.
“McCain have been really limited in what they’ve done in terms of face to face engagement previously … [but] the response to far has been overwhelming,” he said. “An ad can tell a consumer something, but if a brand ambassador is there actually talking to a consumer or a shopper about a brand you’re going to listen to them rather than remembering that bus-stop ad they see in the morning.”
Frozen wood-fried pizza is also a first for the company, which brand manager Simone Formisano says was developed to challenge conventional beliefs about its long-lasting products.
“We want to change people’s perception of frozen pizza. Many consumers don’t believe that a frozen pizza could taste as good as Rustica, hence our reason for investing in the pizza truck,” said Simone Formisano, brand manager, McCain Foods Australia and New Zealand. “By getting consumers to try it, they taste that Rustica pizza can deliver a top quality pizza in the comfort of their own home.”
