Chr. Hansen developed a new and natural method for keeping foods fresh and appealing for longer. They call it “Bioprotection” and in order to successfully establish and drive the category, they needed a concept that was applicable across different food industries. Additionally, while Chr. Hansen traditionally targeted production and R&D people, the new concept had to be relevant to marketing departments too.

Bioprotection involves using food cultures to inhibit spoilage and increase shelf-life. It's based on ancient fermentation principles and is completely natural, so it won't add to the list of unwanted artificial ingredients on the label.

As bioprotective solutions can be used in a wide range of food industries, including dairy, meat and wine, there were a large number of key stakeholders involved in the process. There was also very little time. We had just three weeks to reach final concept, so it was imperative the process was compact and aligned.

Step 1. Research
We moved into Chr. Hansen and spent an intense week gathering knowledge and insights. This shaped a number of strategic directions.

Step 2. Refine
The strategic directions were presented to the stakeholder group for review. Three were selected for further development. 

Step 3. Select
A creative concept was developed for each strategic direction and then presented to the stakeholder group. The stakeholder group then used purpose written questionnaires to select the final concept.

Step 4. Plan
Following the strategy and concept process, we ensured the development of the right tools for the launch of the new generation FreshQ® by mapping the customer journey of dairy marketing functions. Chr. Hansen wanted to improve their insights into the decision processes of this new target group, so through interviews with customers from around the globe, a full-day workshop, and extensive research we developed a framework that led to a customer journey-based marketing plan.

The Keep It great! concept not only adeptly communicates the benefits of bioprotection at product level - it also strikes a particular chord with marketers, as it addresses their drive to keep their brands great too!

We set about using Keep it great! to launch a specific product – FreshQ® cultures for yogurt. This launch is a good example of how we work closely with clients that have extended in-house capabilities. Most of the final assets for the marketing plan were developed by Chr. Hansen in-house on the basis of our concept, while others, such as the launch film, were created by our own production team. The concept was implemented centrally and regionally through a wide range of assets including print, trade fair stands, SoMe activities, gimmicks, direct marketing, video and landing pages.

Quote from Peter Thøysen, Director - Commercial development, Dairy Bioprotection:

“We are really satisfied with the creative campaign and the results so far. Evaluating this process that we have been through, I must say that – even though I was sceptical initially – I really feel that every step in the process has generated value. And the alignments with key internal stakeholders have been pivotal for both pace and quality of the output.”