Blink Films, an independent production company, developed the Chinese Food in Minutes series format with the show’s star Ching-He Huang and her talent agency PFD and pitched it to the commissioning team at Channel 5 who were very interested in the proposition but had no real heritage in food programming. They therefore offered a 7.30pm slot and programme series support subject to advertiser funding.
Krempelwood’s sales team identified Sharwood’s as a potential partner for the series and were able to put together a compelling and expansive package of rights and negotiate a deal on behalf of Blink Films with Starcom Plus, the sponsorship agency retained by Sharwood’s parent company Premier Foods.
In order to optimize the brand partnership Krempelwood worked with a number of other parties including McCann’s who produced the sponsorship materials for broadcast, online and on-demand platforms; talent agents PFD who handled working with the programme series talent for trade and consumer related activity; and PR agency Brave PR who worked with Channel 5’s PR team to maximise partnership awareness and series viewing.
Krempelwood and Starcom Plus coordinated the partnership and activation.
Sharwood’s wanted to be associated with Chinese cooking content and wanted to maximize their communication around the start of the Chinese New Year – however no programme format already existed on terrestrial TV, offering Sharwood’s a volume of audience to build an association with. Therefore by developing content in line with Sharwood’s communication strategy, focused around giving consumers a ‘helping hand’, Sharwood’s were able to offer a deeper level of engagement than just pure sponsorship. In addition, it offered the benefit of being able to exploit Sharwood’s association off-air with Ching in a much more powerful way – for example, Ching inspired recipes featuring Sharwood’s products.
Through the pre-production process it was possible to take consideration of Sharwood’s communications objectives. Whilst they were unable to have any direct influence over the editorial it was possible to dial up mutually beneficial elements such as communicating to viewers the ease and simplicity of preparing delicious and healthy Chinese meals in minutes.
An online competition was promoted within the programme editorial with a Ching fronted sequence being featured in each episode offering viewers the chance to win a gastronomic tour of China alongside Ching’s cookbook (also called Chinese Food in Minutes); a wok from her range of cookware; and a hamper of Chinese cooking products. The prize pool was funded by and accredited to Sharwood’s.
Blink Films also produced a series of short films featuring the show’s star, Ching, showing Sharwood’s chef Chung Yin how to cook some of her tastiest recipes, modified to use Sharwood’s products. These videos were hosted on the re-launched Sharwood’s website with cut-down edits made available to feature in online advertising executions.
The modified recipes also led the off-air campaign with a series of advertorial features running in targeted women’s weeklies including Hello, OK and Woman’s Own. Further to this activity Sharwood’s also ran directional ads promoting the show in listings publications including Heat and Metro.
Alongside broadcast sponsorship, Sharwood’s also sponsored a specially developed microsite that housed additional video content, recipes and episode guides and the competition. The microsite was road-blocked with Sharwood’s online advertising driving clickthrough to the new Sharwood’s website.
In addition, the series was made available on a free-catch-up streaming basis on demand via Channel 5’s principle proprietary platform Demand Channel 5 and through Demand Channel 5’s presence on 3rd party on-demand aggregators You Tube, TV.com and See Saw making it the first Channel 5 AFP to be sponsored on all four Demand Channel 5 platforms.
Channel 5 supported this show across all of their platforms scheduling an on-air promo campaign and devoting online editorial to drive viewing. The PR department also mobilized their full resources to generate in excess of £1m of PR across, press, TV, online and radio.
To leverage the association further Ching worked with Sharwood’s on trade activity and showcased cooking demonstrations with the major supermarket retailers cooking exclusive recipes created especially for Sharwood’s.
Chinese Food in Minutes is Channel 5’s most successful AFP to date and the broadcaster and brand partner are both interested in working with all parties to develop the “in Minutes” brand collaboratively across Sharwood’s brand lines.
Amongst many highlights, the series launched with a mammoth 1.4million viewers, more than doubling slot average and tripling ratings amongst some of Channel 5 key advertising demos including ABC1 Women. For Sharwood’s the partnership contributed to a very positive sales uplift during Chinese New Year. Lisa Clark commented “This was the first ever AFP for Premier Foods, and we are very pleased with the results. The programme exceeded our expectations in many areas, and we look forward to new AFP opportunities that provide this type of synergy for our brands in the future”.
In addition, the success of the show has also attracted attention from the market leader’s competitors and beyond into other categories.