2020 Winner
2020 Winners
Nando's Grocery
Spicy P(ERi-PERi)
As a humble and hardworking brand originating from South Africa, Nando’s was eager to grow brand affinity across the Great White North with hot-sauce enthusiasts. While its legendary PERi-PERi was loved by many, it was taking heat from competitors and trailing behind. Nando's was in need of a campaign that would help them climb the hot sauce rankings and stay there.
Insights and Strategy
We know to bring the heat, you need the perfect combination of hustle and spice. So we turned to the spiciest man of all time, who happened to live locally, was a Nando's aficionado and shared the same roots and hustle as the brand itself - Toronto Raptors superstar, Pascal Siakam, or “Spicy P”.
On the heels of his historic 2019 NBA Championship win with the Toronto Raptors, Spicy P was bringing the heat on the court, so much so that fans wanted to bottle him up into a hot sauce. The internet flooded with social posts begging for Spicy P hot sauce and fans cheered at games asking for it. So, we gave them what they wanted and created the hottest sauce that would blaze past our competitors - a limited-edition bottle of Spicy P(ERi-ERi). This was not just any Peri-Peri, it was Spicy P’s very own hot sauce featuring the all-star in action on the bottle.
We knew we had to use his star-power to give back, so together with Pascal, we donated a portion of proceeds to Right to Play, a global non-profit organization that protects, educates and empowers children to rise above adversity using the power of play.
Execution
On February 13, the week of the NBA All Star game, when all eyes were on Spicy P, Nando’s Canada launched a limited edition bottle of PERi-PERi with Pascal “Spicy P” Siakam and named it Spicy P(ERi-PERi).
On launch day, we flooded Canadian news feeds and grocery stores with Spicy P(ERi-PERi)’s arrival leveraging PR, paid social, in-store POS and a campaign landing page. We launched the announcement through a national press release and followed it with a day of 1:1 interviews with Canada’s top broadcast media and a media scrum hosted at a local Nando's.
We staged a mock press conference to announce the spicy new news via social, capturing Pascal’s cheeky personality and excitement for Spicy P(ERI-PERi) in four unique videos. We used these assets to sustain the conversation online throughout the campaign, both on Nando’s Canada social channels and Pascal’s, encouraging fans to get their hands on the Spicy P(ERi-PERi) heat. Fans couldn’t get enough and the sauce flew off the shelves.
To sustain the buzz and online chatter, we delivered the heat to new and existing fans across Canada surprising them with their very own bottles of Spicy P(ERi-PERi), arriving in one-of-a-kind packaging.
Results and Impact
The Spicy P(ERi-PERi) campaign was a resounding success that far exceeded our KPIs in every category:
-The launch of Spicy P(ERi-PERi) went viral, resulting in 436 stories and 110 million impressions in Canada (including 86 million earned media impressions and 24 million social impressions).
-Top-tier coverage was secured in outlets across the country including Breakfast Television, the Social, eTalk, Toronto Sun, TSN and more.
-4.5 million digital impressions with a 40% increase in social traffic
Nando’s sales:
-The launch beat records for Nando’s daily average of in-restaurant PERi-PERi sales by 208%
-Grocery sales for PERi-PERi increased by 228% in the month of February
-In February, Nando’s was ranked the #2 best selling hot sauce in Canada
Overall, our Nando’s Spicy P(ERi-PERi) campaign established Nando’s PERi-PERi as a key competitor in the hot sauce battle and grew Nando’s market share. From humble African roots to becoming one of Canada’s favourites, Spicy P(ERi-PERi) was a slam dunk, making the North a whole lot hotter.