Our fourth edition of Takeaway (Fourth Floor’s live events series for the food and drink industry) was another huge success, with over 15 great UK brands attending, and Liam White from Dr. Will's sauces as our guest speaker. 

Liam’s talk detailed how Dr. Will's sold 10,000 bottles of ketchup at Tesco with no budget. The campaign they came up with to support their launch with Tesco was a pivotal moment for the brand. 

Throughout Liam’s talk, he discussed the company created a structured but agile campaign that hit a simple yet very ambitious brief: ‘How can we activate a Tesco listing, mid-pandemic, at no cost?’

I wasn’t lying when I said “very ambitious!” But they smashed it. Here’s a few of the top takeaways from Liam’s talk on how they achieved that goal.

USE YOUR PERSONAL NETWORK

The Dr. Will's team realised that between them they had an army of friends, family, and investors, who have all followed and supported the Dr. Will’s journey. So they harnessed those relationships to support the campaign and drive rate of sale. 

CREATE CONTENT PILLARS

Creating distinct and recognisable content pillars is one of the most valuable exercises you can undertake in designing effective campaign strategies. Dr. Will's created four key pillars that allowed them to create and distribute engaging content that was laser targeted to their core campaign audience. 

BE EMOTIONAL 

I’m sure it comes as no bombshell that being emotional in your comms and content can create strong relationships with your audiences, as well as being a really compelling way to drive sales conversations. Emotion was at the heart of the Dr. Will's campaign strategy.

Also at Takeaway 4, Thom’s talk about how to go viral with TikTok and Instagram Reels. Both platforms have changed the way that we consume content online, with never-ending feeds of short-form video. And both offer new, unique ways for brands and influencers to go viral. 

Thom’s talk focussed on the mindset that needs to be taken in order to attain that success. Simply trying to ‘make content to go viral’ isn’t enough; brands need to have the right people with the right mindset to understand the cultures and trends they’re working with, as they happen. 

BE OBSESSED 

If you haven’t found yourself in a TikTok rabbit hole, aimlessly scrolling and laughing until 1am, then you probably aren’t the right person to be leading your TikTok strategy. 

BE PLAYFUL

Knowing your audience and what they expect is key, and audiences on TikTok and Instagram Reels expect playfulness. Try to be less rigid with your brand guidelines, and enjoy the freedom of creativity that both of these platforms encourage. 

Focus on CREATIVITY AHEAD OF FOLLOWERS in partnerships

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways that brands can use TikTok and Reels. Working with content creators who have established audiences can be your entry-point into valuable new communities. When choosing who to work with, creativity should be at the forefront of your decision-making. TikTok and Reels reward that first, and primarily push content based on user consumption and engagement, not the size of a channel’s follower-base.

For more tips, and to download the complete set of presentation slides and watch the full video of the event, head to our Takeaway 4  page.