We used the public’s concern for endangered animals to gain support for an endangered tomato. In partnership with celebrity chef Hugh Acheson, we created and promoted a one-day-only tasting event with a menu serving a range of delicious, endangered species. We let people’s imaginations run wild as we build up anticipation and intrigue by keeping the identity of the endangered species secret until the very end.

We partnered with celebrity chef Hugh Acheson to create a one-day-only tasting event, where he would serve a range of delicious, endangered species. His promotional appearances were met with shock and criticism but the backlash spread news of the event to a wider and wider audience. Through hidden cameras, we then captured diners’ reactions including the revelation that they were not eating an endangered animal, but rather an endangered plant: The Cherokee Purple Tomato.

This activation was originally meant to target a single test market (Atlanta). But in the end, we had more than 200 media outlets cover the event, from all across the country, resulting in 85,000,000 impressions. We also tripled our target media goal (reached 74.1 percent of target audience, using comparison of impressions to advertising GRP, as dictated by brand). The campaign was also effective at driving that all-important KPI of sales (+42% above benchmark.)