In December 2018, politicians in the US couldn’t agree on a budget so the Government was forced to shut down. As a result, around 800,000 employees had to stop working and go unpaid.

Stouffer’s, an iconic American food brand, headquartered in Cleveland believes dinner is often one of the few opportunities for loved ones to spend time together and connect. So when thousands of families risked being unable to put dinner on the table, Stouffer’s knew it needed to step in to help.

The brief was: How do we help these people in their time of need?

The objective was to reach affected government workers in a targeted way to let them know exactly what action they needed to take to be able to provide for their families. Another objective was ensuring that word would be spread to ensure it had the maximum impact and reach to help people.

By day 21 of the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of government employees would miss their first paycheck of 2019 and we knew the impact would be felt most at the dinner table.

Stouffer’s takes pride in their brand purpose, believing that everyone should be able to enjoy a warm meal with their family. Since 1924 Stouffer's has been feeding hard-working Americans, so when families couldn’t provide dinner for themselves, we stepped in.

As the situation faced by affected workers was dire, we knew a real time reaction was necessary to help them put dinner on the table.

And where better to act than in Cleveland, where Stouffer’s has been a part of the community for years. So on January 16, 2019 the “Stouffer’s Shutdown Dinner” was held to hand out free dinners to all Cleveland government workers affected. Not as an act of charity, but as an act of appreciation.

By identifying and monitoring the escalating social media conversation around the shutdown, we saw increasingly negative sentiment running up to the first missed paycheck, along with daily mentions of the shutdown that also included keywords for stress, anxiety and worry increase by 196%.

From monitoring these conversations, Stouffer’s was able to see much of the chatter centered around putting food on the table, so we knew how to help.

Given the conversation was happening on social media it was the clear choice to reach affected government employees in Cleveland. Stouffer’s was able to target, through Facebook, the most geographically relevant audience and ensure that the message of a free meal was reaching them quickly and effectively.

Using social to reach the right people with the right message quickly also meant the initiative could easily be picked up and shared by media outlets who were also monitoring the situation heavily.

The execution was simple - one Facebook post linking to an event that shared the details where the affected government employees would be able to pick up their free Stouffer’s meals. Crafting the message with respect was important to thank the government workers for the service they provide to the country every day.

The post went live on Facebook on 01.11.2019, the day workers missed their first paycheck. We targeted adults 18-55 in the Cleveland area to ensure that local government employees and their families and friends would be exposed to it. The post received paid support through 01.16.2019, the date of the event, which took place at the Cleveland Stouffer’s plant. In the run-up and live on the day, Stouffer’s also posted organically to Facebook and Instagram.

With only a few days between the post and event, meals were sourced quickly from nearby manufacturing plants in the Ohio area, and the event was manned by Stouffer’s employees.

In addition to handing out free meals, Stouffer’s sent food and financial assistance to the Capital Area Food Bank and the Cleveland Food Bank who were also hit hard by the rise in need.

The “Stouffer’s Shutdown Dinner” which was executed locally online, but quickly became part of a larger National offline conversation. In just a few days “Stouffer’s Shutdown Dinner” garnered over 234 million impressions, reached over 600,000 people and achieved over $9 million in earned media. Including being picked up by countless TV channels, outlets and was heavily online including the Los Angeles Time, Yahoo, Fox and more.

The targeted Facebook post was shared over 4,000 times, with +90% of comments being positive and over 23,000 engagements. And the event page had +7.9K views.

Stouffer’s Shutdown organic Facebook and Instagram posts had an average reach of 93,000 people, significantly higher than the brand average of 20,000-30,000, making it the most successful organic brand engagement ever on their social channels.