Client
HelloFresh
Role
Art Director, Creative Strategist, Graphic Designer
Objective
This was a creative exercise where I was tasked with coming up with a creative strategy and supporting examples to pitch to a client for an ad that would drive CTR and efficiency.
Establishing some baseline: Creatively speaking, their biggest pain point was CTR. There are a lot of diet/meal plans on the market and they had seen CTR go down over time as it becomes more saturated.
Their top USP is: Healthy recipes at your fingertips, without all the complexity
The challenge: The service is expensive, and consumers have doubts about whether the quality of the meals is worth the money
Their core audience is: Urban millennials and Gen Z (small kitchens, less time to cook,) mid to higher HHI for their age group
What they needed: Creative that will help them create a fresh new take on how to bridge this challenge while leaning into their core USP.
Strategy
Research has shown that Millennials and Gen Zers, regardless of their socioeconomic status, place a significant emphasis on both the value of their personal time – what’s worth it, and what isn’t; as well as sustainability and social and environmental issues. Millennials are also drawn to promotions and deals, while Gen Zers are drawn to influencer- and UGC-based marketing. If it saves them time and aligns with their personal values, it’s usually worth the investment, be in monetary, mental, or otherwise. While all of their competitors’ ad campaigns had placed focus on cost/serving, I proposed split-testing using a completely different approach.
Considering their top USP is the convenience of healthy, quality recipes, I wanted to move focus away from the cost and focus on the how the time saved in everything involved in grocery shopping and meal prep aligns with their priority of time over money, and how the superior quality of responsibly sourced ingredients and with sustainability at the forefront justifies the cost, creating a similar mindset as those that don’t mind spending 2x on organic vs. non-organic foods, because it’s organic.
Time saved at the checkout line because you’re sent healthy, responsibly sourced recipe ingredients makes it all worth it, and maybe throwing in a $40 coupon CTA is the cherry glaze on top of that pork chop recipe you just received in the mail, especially with an influencer as a spokesperson.
What’s being tested
Split-test ads for each concept, pitting enticing visuals with appropriate messaging by concept against each other to see which performs better with their core audience, playing with color/content of CTA as well. I also proposed exploring an option of using influencers (i.e. Mandy Moore, Fitness Pros, etc.) in image-based and/or suggested UGC-style video content and see if that resonates with both target audiences. Research shows that while there is crossover between which types of marketing resonates well with both groups, there are several differences as well, so we want to have all of our bases covered.
What’s the insight we hope to gain
I would have wanted to gain insight into which HelloFresh values (convenience vs. healthy and quality of ingredient) resonate best with their core audience to drive the clicks to site. Knowing that cost is something they’re concerned about, so I wanted to know which of their values/benefits makes them not care as much about it.
Core messaging
The message used would have varied depending on the ad. For the concept focusing on time savings, I would have utilized messaging about how the stress of grocery shopping can’t possibly be worth it; for the ads focusing on quality, using buzzwords like “best quality, sustainably and responsibly sourced,” etc. Maybe even getting a little cheeky with indirect callouts to their competitors for some edge.
