The Objective: For its first-ever marketing push in the United States, 200-year-old Italian pasta brand Garofalo Pasta teamed with 72andSunny Amsterdam to cook up a campaign that would spread awareness and general conviviality in the American market.
The Creative: The “Cook with Naples” campaign stars Lele, an effusive, talkative Neapolitan chef—and Garofalo brand ambassador—who’s on a mission: to share his love of cooking with the denizens of New York. The campaign also includes Garofalo’s “Sleepover Chef” contest, powered by ePrize. The contest allowed Garofalo’s Facebook fans to enter for the chance to have Lele come to their apartment and cook a delicious pasta feast for them and their friends. The catch? After cooking the winner the best pasta ever, Lele gets to crash on her sofa.
The Channel: In addition to the contest, the campaign includes a variety of activations targeting foodies, including a digital content partnership with publications such as The New York Times and Tasting Table. A series of print ads are running in the latter half of 2013 in food, wine, and travel magazine Saveur, which has an audience of approximately 50,000 food connoisseurs.
The Goods: Though only two winners snagged the prize of a personal visit from Lele, all entrants received a voucher for a free bag of pasta.
The Glitch: The Lele contest closed in July, but the “Sleepover Chef” app still appeared as one of the main tabs on Garofalo’s Facebook page with the message “Oops-a-daisy: We can’t find the page you’re looking for” as late as September. An unfortunate waste of prime Facebook real estate.
