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FMBX News
Posted: Apr 4, 2011
Celebrity cooking success with Gekko and Headcount
April 2nd saw, by coincidence, two celebrities cooking in UK shopping centres for two different promotions, with both enjoying a high level of successful impact with shoppers. Fieldmarketing.com was able to get immediate feedback from both events by using Field Agent’s smart phone crowdsourcing to ‘mystery shop’ the two events.
Shoppers at the Bullring, Birmingham were treated to a theatrical cooking experience with Gino D’Acampo, who presented his recipes in an upbeat afternoon for Zanussi’s kitchen range. Called Gino Live! this event attracted a substantial crowd, as our ‘mystery shopper’ photograph shows (taken by mobile phone camera). Gino Live! was a single event hosted as part of a tour run by Gekko. The tour has seen Gekko staff demonstrating Zanussi products at retail parks and collecting competition entrants for a chance to win D’Acampo pan sets. The tour finishes in Dublin on 9th April.
Meanwhile at Lakeside, Thurrock on the same day, shoppers were treated to demonstrations of potato cooking by Michelin chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. The celebrity chef has been commissioned by The Potato Council and agency Headcount to undergo a tour of the UK promoting the potato with an array of recipes. The venue, booked for the Lakeside event this weekend by Brandspace, was the second stop on a tour which will go on to visit Capitol Centre Cardiff (8th April), Manchester Arndale (14th April) and Buchanan Galleries Glasgow (16th April). It was at Birmingham’s Bullring last weekend.
Novelli is cooking in three sessions on each of these days. The three session approach allows an intimate communication to be developed between chef Novelli, Headcount’s brand ambassadors and the shoppers at the venue. The campaign has a strong one-to-one focus, using online and television to amplify the key campaign messages. Amateur potato cooks get to share their tips at the shopping centre venues, showing their home recipes and compete for a chance to appear alongside Novelli in a television advert to further promote potatoes. The winner is decided via an online voting system at www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk
Mystery shoppers for both events were very positive about the cooking experiences. Novelli’s performance was described as ‘an inspiration’ and Headcount’s brand ambassadors as ‘informative’. Gino D’Acampo was described as ‘very funny’ and the experience made the shopper feel ‘much more positive’ about the brand.
Further reading on this site
Field Agent in the Industry Suppliers Directory
Brandspace in the Industry Suppliers Directory
Gekko tours with Zanussi cookers (17.3.2011)
