2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

THE KITCHEN IS FOR EVERYONE

BrandGENERAL MILLS
Product/ServiceBETTY CROCKER
EntrantVMLY&R Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryFast Moving Consumer Goods
Idea Creation VMLY&R Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement VMLY&R Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
PR ASDA'A BCW Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

A tweet from a young boy named Sultan who challenged Betty Crocker with a simple question, “Why do your cooking instructions only address women?”. The campaign that unfolded in response to him engaged millions across multiple platforms, from social media to talk shows to grocery stores. The Kitchen Is For Everyone is a campaign to promote gender equality in the kitchen and to break a Middle Eastern stereotype that assumes a woman’s role is in the kitchen. We created new, progressive genderless instructions changing over 20 million packs, making each a symbol of change for home chefs everywhere.

Background

A new generation of women is making change in the Arab world. From conquering Everest to making history at the Olympics, Arab women are making headlines and breaking stereotypes every day. But despite these changes, they are still stuck with the stereotype- ‘women belong in the kitchen’. For almost a hundred years Betty Crocker has proudly supported women. Or so we thought, until an 8-year-old boy named Sultan, took to twitter and challenged us with a question, “Why are the baking instructions on Betty Crocker’s packs only addressed to women?” The twitterverse exploded in support. It was a moment that made us realize, we needed to make a change. We needed to answer this young boy, and once again show the world that Betty Crocker supported not only women, but chefs of any age and gender. It was time to change the regional stereotype.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We looked at over a hundred products in our market and discovered sultan was right, Arabic cooking instructions only speak to women. It was time to change the stereotype. We wanted to show the world that Betty Crocker still proudly supports women and believes that the kitchen is for anyone. Working with a linguistic expert we found that Arabic can address both men and women because the kitchen isn’t just for women. We had a way to spread our campaign message to millions, and the medium was where the problem was…on Betty Crocker packs. We created new progressive instructions that addressed all cooks regardless of gender making each pack a symbol of change. By changing over 20 million packs our campaign message, The Kitchen Is For Everyone started in stores, and spread from supermarket shelves to millions of conversations online, on the news, in homes and across social media.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Social media has the power to make or break brands, so when Sultan took to twitter to voice his concerns about our cooking instructions, we took it seriously. The twitterverse was behind him and Betty Crocker needed to reply with a meaningful response. As a brand that has always supported women, Sultan’s question compelled us to look into our brand’s most fundamental values. Betty Crocker was a brand for all home chefs, regardless of gender, yet inadvertently we had made the kitchen a domain for women. The strategy was to show the world that Betty Crocker supported gender equality. That the kitchen is for all chefs, regardless of age, race or gender. We needed to make a statement that would reach everyone. So, we changed over 20 million of our packs making them a symbol for change, a symbol that would inspire millions. Our message? The Kitchen Is For Everyone.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

It began by coming up with brand-new gender-neutral instructions. Working with a linguistics expert we discovered that gender neutral terms do exist in the Arabic language. But cooking instructions follow the regional stereotype, ‘only women cook’, and therefore only address them. We created new, progressive gender-neutral baking instructions in Arabic to let the world know that the kitchen is for everyone. Betty Crocker has actually been a pioneer of new media for her nearly 100-year history. Using the packs gave us reach to an audience of millions, so we changed over 20 million Betty Crocker products. We made sultan the voice of our campaign and spread the message of gender quality to schools, talk shows, cooking shows, influencers, news channels and on social media, and in supermarkets, opening eyes and sparking real conversation about equality in the kitchen. Because the kitchen is for everyone.

List the results (30% of vote)

We didn’t create a campaign. We created a movement, sparking real conversation about the role of men and women across the region. The main outcome? Over 20 million packs of Betty Crocker products were changed with new Arabic baking instructions. The packs can be found in the following supermarkets: Carrefour, Spinneys, Waitrose, Danube, Lulu, Panda and Choithrams. In just three days our campaign reached millions organically. • A total print circulation of 231,300 was secured. • A total reach of 34,239,976 was secured • The total add value secured was $128,345 • The total PR Value of $449,208 was secured.

Credits

Name Company Role
Kalpesh Patankar VMLY&R CCO / Art Director
Dhruv Warrior VMLY&R Copywriter
Fernando Miranda VMLY&R Copywriter
Sambhav Khandelwal VMLY&R Copywriter
Ivan Bormaister VMLY&R Art Director
Maria Jabbour VMLY&R Account Manager
Darine ElKaissi VMLY&R Business Director
Sajjad Hussain General Mills Marketing Manager
Azfar Ul-Islam General Mills Marketing Director & Head of Emerging Markets/Channels
Pratyush Kumar VMLY&R Editor
Harvey George VMLY&R Arabic Copywriter
Margaret Flanagan Asda’a BCW Executive Vice President
Samantha Dsa Asda’a bcw Sr PR Executive
Ali Shaikh General Mills Chief Marketing Officer
Ahmed Montaser VMLY&R Art Director
Ines Fates General Mills Brand Manager
Raza Khurram VMLY&R Motion Graphic Designer
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