The Challenge

Blue Dragon wanted to stand out in the oriental food market. It had to gain sales in a declining sector and wanted to raise its profile with the major supermarkets.

It sponsored UKTV Food’s Chinese New Year programming in 2002 but in 2003 it wanted to do more. The communication challenge was to boost market share, encourage product trial among new users and get committed customers to be more adventurous, drive traffic to its website and impress the big supermarkets.

Research showed that UKTV Food viewers were passionate about new food products and ethnic ingredients. It was also a targeted environment, the only dedicated food channel on British TV, with an audience of more than 4.5m young and upmarket viewers every month. 

TV Solution

The solution was to create a mix of TV activity, boost it with recipes on the Blue Dragon website, mix in some on-screen competitions and promote the association on packs. Blue Dragon would continue its sponsorship of the Chinese New Year programming and add Thai New Year to its culinary mix.

Further more there would be three one-minute recipe programmes, made by BBC Creative Services, which would show TV chef Simon Rimmer creating Chinese and Thai meals using Blue Dragon ingredients.

The website address was shown at the end of each programme and consumers could find further recipes online. Traffic to the website increased five-fold during the campaign, with 20,000 visits a month.

The shows were also sent to major supermarkets to showcase the brand’s promotional activity.

The Results

Blue Dragon sales increased in a declining marketplace. Independent sales data after the campaign showed that it was the top-performing brand in the Chinese sauces market with year-on-year growth of 20%. In terms of unit sales it overtook Sharwoods in this sector for the first time.

During the campaign, purchase of Blue Dragon cooking sauces increased by 51% among UKTV Food viewers compared to 19% among non-viewers. Overall the channel’s viewers increased spend on Blue Dragon ethnic ingredients by 24%.

The relationship between Blue Dragon and UKTV Food has been such a success that in 2005, the brand sponsored Chinese New Year for a fourth year in a row.

“The UKTV Food sponsorship proved a cost-effective and impactful activity for us in 2002. In 2003 and 2004, with developments in the creative work which really reflect our consumer education approach, we increased our level of spend and the channel’s importance in our marketing mix.”
Claudia Bailey, Marketing Director, GE Costa