Situation:

As the UK’s third largest employer – hospitality is responsible for £130 billion of economic activity.

However, it was facing unprecedented challenges. Job vacancies rose 700% - putting increasing stress and pressure on the 70% remaining. Issues around mental health were relatively unchartered territory in the sector, despite 91% of the workforce experiencing mental health problems. Throw in the challenges around increases in operating costs and supply chain issues and there was very little positive to say.

Brief:

We needed to create an original campaign that brought hospitality workers struggles to life, but also highlight the overwhelmingly positive benefits of shared support.

Objectives:

Our idea needed to shine a light on the positive side of the industry; to find a new voice that was authentic, inclusive, supportive and nurturing; we needed to spread that story far and wide.

How do we engage a diverse audience of hospitality workers, from a barista to a waiter to a head chef to a kitchen porter, to remember why this can be such a great industry to work in?

With The Burnt Chef Project (the leading not-for-profit social enterprise committed to improving mental health in hospitality) we created a movement, “Perfect Pairings”, to demonstrate how friendships are the lifeblood of hospitality, from providing a vibrant and inclusive workplace, to enhancing creativity, increasing productivity and most importantly providing the perfect support when things are tough. For the first time, voices in the industry were able to champion who their perfect pairing was and the vital role their work best friend plays. A game changing campaign for the industry when it needed it most.

Insight:

1 in 3 hospitality workers suffer high stress levels, yet only 55% have sought help and 90% agree there’s a stigma surrounding mental health.

But we knew that when employees have a work best friend, they have a greater sense of wellbeing and their productivity increases seven-fold.

So our strategy had to be disruptive. We had to get people talking. And the best way to do? Hear from the unheard voices – the workforce themselves. Talking about their biggest strengths – each other.

Key message:

Friendships are the lifeblood of the industry

Friendships make it an industry like no other

Friendships provide broad shoulders when times are tough

Target Audience:

Catering (professional kitchens), hot beverages industries

Creation and distribution of assets:

Partnering with The Burnt Chef Project – we identified video as our hero asset, amplified by news generation, with social channels, especially TikTok, creating engagement across the industry.

Stage 1: Inspire

We made hospitality workers the stars with a beautiful film series on why they love working together for National Work/Life Week. The shared laughs. The memories. And the tears.

Stage 2: Consolidate

To demonstrate the benefits of a work best friend, powerful research revealed friendships are key for mental health. Launched on World Mental Health Day, this generated headlines around managing anxiety and increased resilience in tough times.

Stage 3: Celebrate

Giving people and their Perfect Pairing the chance to win a ‘Bestie Day Off Ever’, a Michelin-Starred adventure. BRITA’s sales team drove awareness amongst customers/prospects and TikTokers got involved.

Timeline

October 2022 – January 2023

Scale

Not only did Perfect Pairings get people talking, reaching more than 3.25m, it helped shift the mindset of an entire industry, inspiring a whole raft of wonderful initiatives. BRITA is now looking to extend into 2023 and activating it globally.

This campaign reminded people why hospitality is such an incredibly rewarding industry (80% had heard of the campaign and 72% said it made them feel more positive about the industry). The research also helped to open up conversations about mental health at a time when the industry needed it most.

This was a cost-effective campaign (budget: £23,000) as we were able to get a huge reach from The Burnt Chef Project who profiled the campaign at their gala dinner and their Social Impact Report. Rich storytelling from those who worked in the industry also helped to drive broad reach for the video content.

AWARENESS: MEDIA OUPUTS (SPREADING THE STORY FAR AND WIDE)

• Exceeded coverage target by 650% (target: 20, achieved: 150)

• 20% uplift in coverage in gold target media compared to previous campaigns (100 pieces)

• 100% of coverage was positive in tone and 43% of research coverage included a backlink (target: 10%)

• 100% of coverage positioned BRITA as inclusive, supporting and nurturing

ENGAGEMENT: TARGET AUDIENCE OUTCOMES (RESONATING WITH THE AUDIENCE)

• Huge uplift in website traffic (10% increase) when the campaign launched

• 540% increase against target for unique visitors to the landing page (target: 2,000, actual: 12,813)

• Thousands of competition entries

• 1.7m video views

ACTION: BUSINESS OUTCOMES

• The campaign became BRITA’s most successful professional campaign

• Led to their highest levels of enquiries about BRITA Managed Services offer ever when the campaign launched creating a +25% increase in leads