There's never been a better time to be a food brand. However, as each year passes, big food becomes a little less relevant, as a new wave of food brands that better meet the heightened expectations of food lovers are stealing market share across the globe. Knorr, as the biggest cooking brand in the world, had to evolve to stay relevant. The first step in this progression, was to better understand the power of flavour in people's lives. PHD conducted a study amongst 12,000 people in 12 markets and what it found out intrigued and inspired...

Having discovered flavour was a key component of compatibility, the agency would use this insight to inspire an activation that would help it connect with food lovers and food culture in a more authentic, relevant and talkable manner than ever before. It would explore whether someone's flavour personality, determined by the Knorr Flavour Profiler, a digital tool PHD launched with the campaign, could ultimately help people find #LoveAtFirstTaste.

A social experiment, captured as a film, would spark intrigue and interest across the world, inspiring others to do the same and find out their own Knorr Flavour Profile along the way. In order to give #LoveAtFirstTaste the best chance of penetrating popular culture, the agency needed a quick start, so it synchronised PR coverage and accelerated video distribution across the largest video and social platforms on the web. PHD launched bespoke media partnerships with PlayBuzz & Tastemade, to scale the impact and efficacy of the Knorr Flavour Profiler beyond the website.

#LoveAtFirstTaste captured the attention and imagination of the newsfeeds and the view feeds across the globe. Currently sitting at 112M views across all platforms, and topping the viral charts, not only did people engage with the story (2x audience retention for films of a similar length), it created a spark that triggered a huge social reaction in Knorr's favour, with over 2.7M social actions taking place in the first two weeks, 400K Likes and 200K shares of the main film and associated assets; with 1.87M clicking to find out their own flavour profile.

This groundswell of interest triggered a huge reaction from the media, with the campaign receiving coverage on talkshows, radio stations, newspapers and websites across the globe, generating 1.4 billion PR impressions along the way. Brand favourability is shifting where results are available: US +1500bps, France +900bps, UK +900bps. and market share increased by 140bps in May, during and immediately after the campaign. Not bad for a 175 year old cooking brand.