2021 Winner
2021 Winners
Kraft Heinz
KD Boost
Iconic Canadian brand, Kraft Dinner (KD) was struggling to build relevancy with young Millennials and Gen Z consumers. When rumours of a new entrant to the mac and cheese category surfaced, KD accelerated its launch plans to own the flavour conversation and reaffirm its iconic status, driving relevancy and reminding consumers that no brand delivers better on bold.
Keen to connect with Gen Z and millennials, Kraft Dinner recognized that these targets live on the edge and seek bold flavour experiences. They eat painfully spicy foods, just to share on TikTok and consume absurd food combinations just to start a trend.
The brand had been working on innovation to inspire this demographic, and when rumours that a key competitor was bringing new bold-flavoured mac & cheese to Canada, KD had to move fast to reaffirm its role as a Canadian icon.
Designed to pack a punch, KD introduced new KD Flavour Boosts. Individual flavour sachets that add the finishing touch to your favourite cheesy KD Original dish.
To introduce KD Flavour Boosts to market, and capture the attention of Gen Z and millennial audiences, they needed to find a way to hack culture and insert KD into relevant conversations that would get younger audiences talking about it, ultimately showing their target just how relevant KD really is.
The Colony Project looked to both disgust and delight fans with polarizing flavours that drove intrigue and conversation by hacking two of the most culturally relevant moments of the year: Pumpkin Spice Season and Valentine’s Day.
Every Fall, coffee companies compete for a share of the Pumpkin Spice conversation. So this year, in true KD humour, TCP took cues from these companies and mimicked the same tired tropes by introducing Pumpkin Spice mac & cheese.
To beat the coffee conglomerates at their own game, they kicked off with contextually relevant out-of-home that trolled competitors and targeted fans of Pumpkin Spice. Knowing their target loves an exclusive offer, they announced a waitlist, encouraging Canadians to be one of the first to get their hands on this limited-edition drop: a Pumpkin Spice KD Boost Pack and a signature white coffee-style cup with their name written on it (spelled incorrectly, of course).
To drive relevancy with earned media, they launched on the first day of Fall with a national press release and media relations that played on the absurdity of this new flavour. Within 24 hours, Pumpkin Spice KD was trending across news outlets in Canada and the U.S. Americans demanded they launch it there, so they expanded the offer south of the border, and PSKD quickly became a North American phenomenon.
After putting Pumpkin Spice Latte Season to shame, they kept the KD Boost conversation going, and it got a little sweeter with Candy KD - a pink, sweet treat that was introduced in time for Valentine’s Day.
Tapping into the tropes of iconic conversation hearts, they asked people to sweet talk KD on social media into giving them some Candy KD. They issued a national press announcing this iconic Flavour Boost weeks prior, cementing Candy KD as the headline of the cheesiest holiday, and also shared heart-shaped Conversation Style boxes to key media and influencers across the country.
Based on the North American response to Pumpkin Spice KD, they knew Candy KD needed to include U.S. availability, so they ensured this Flavour Boost was available continent-wide.
With Pumpkin Spice Kraft Dinner, and Candy KD both dominating headlines across North America and spurring controversial social chatter, KD cemented its position as an icon of bold flavour and captured the attention of a younger audience.
The KD Boost campaign was the most successful earned campaign to-date in the history of both Kraft Dinner and Kraft Heinz Canada. Most importantly, the campaign got the entire continent talking about Kraft Dinner and Kraft Mac and Cheese’s bold flavour, waiting with bated breath to find out what bold Boost flavours will be next. It received over 2 billion earned impressions from more than 2,887 unique stories, combined, the campaigns helped drive +19% increase in sales year-over-year, and grew HHP by 1%, Pumpkin Spice Kraft Dinner saw a 9.0% engagement rate across North America, 3 times historical benchmark, and 3.8% with Candy KD and key coverage moments included Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore Show, CNN.com, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Global News, CP24 and CTV Morning Live
Keen to connect with Gen Z and millennials, Kraft Dinner recognized that these targets live on the edge and seek bold flavour experiences. They eat painfully spicy foods, just to share on TikTok and consume absurd food combinations just to start a trend.
The brand had been working on innovation to inspire this demographic, and when rumours that a key competitor was bringing new bold-flavoured mac & cheese to Canada, KD had to move fast to reaffirm its role as a Canadian icon.
Designed to pack a punch, KD introduced new KD Flavour Boosts. Individual flavour sachets that add the finishing touch to your favourite cheesy KD Original dish.
To introduce KD Flavour Boosts to market, and capture the attention of Gen Z and millennial audiences, they needed to find a way to hack culture and insert KD into relevant conversations that would get younger audiences talking about it, ultimately showing their target just how relevant KD really is.
The Colony Project looked to both disgust and delight fans with polarizing flavours that drove intrigue and conversation by hacking two of the most culturally relevant moments of the year: Pumpkin Spice Season and Valentine’s Day.
Every Fall, coffee companies compete for a share of the Pumpkin Spice conversation. So this year, in true KD humour, TCP took cues from these companies and mimicked the same tired tropes by introducing Pumpkin Spice mac & cheese.
To beat the coffee conglomerates at their own game, they kicked off with contextually relevant out-of-home that trolled competitors and targeted fans of Pumpkin Spice. Knowing their target loves an exclusive offer, they announced a waitlist, encouraging Canadians to be one of the first to get their hands on this limited-edition drop: a Pumpkin Spice KD Boost Pack and a signature white coffee-style cup with their name written on it (spelled incorrectly, of course).
To drive relevancy with earned media, they launched on the first day of Fall with a national press release and media relations that played on the absurdity of this new flavour. Within 24 hours, Pumpkin Spice KD was trending across news outlets in Canada and the U.S. Americans demanded they launch it there, so they expanded the offer south of the border, and PSKD quickly became a North American phenomenon.
After putting Pumpkin Spice Latte Season to shame, they kept the KD Boost conversation going, and it got a little sweeter with Candy KD - a pink, sweet treat that was introduced in time for Valentine’s Day.
Tapping into the tropes of iconic conversation hearts, they asked people to sweet talk KD on social media into giving them some Candy KD. They issued a national press announcing this iconic Flavour Boost weeks prior, cementing Candy KD as the headline of the cheesiest holiday, and also shared heart-shaped Conversation Style boxes to key media and influencers across the country.
Based on the North American response to Pumpkin Spice KD, they knew Candy KD needed to include U.S. availability, so they ensured this Flavour Boost was available continent-wide.
With Pumpkin Spice Kraft Dinner, and Candy KD both dominating headlines across North America and spurring controversial social chatter, KD cemented its position as an icon of bold flavour and captured the attention of a younger audience.
The KD Boost campaign was the most successful earned campaign to-date in the history of both Kraft Dinner and Kraft Heinz Canada. Most importantly, the campaign got the entire continent talking about Kraft Dinner and Kraft Mac and Cheese’s bold flavour, waiting with bated breath to find out what bold Boost flavours will be next. It received over 2 billion earned impressions from more than 2,887 unique stories, combined, the campaigns helped drive +19% increase in sales year-over-year, and grew HHP by 1%, Pumpkin Spice Kraft Dinner saw a 9.0% engagement rate across North America, 3 times historical benchmark, and 3.8% with Candy KD and key coverage moments included Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore Show, CNN.com, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Global News, CP24 and CTV Morning Live