Since 2017, Rijk Zwaan Italia, a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational of the same name active in the research and marketing of vegetable seeds for professionals in the sector, has been collaborating with Lovemark on the marketing and communication of its digital blog and Love My Salad Italia social media channels.
Among the many initiatives carried out, in 2023 Lovemark supported Rijk Zwaan Italia in a social media campaign with the collaboration of Creators on Instagram (Influencers). The aim was to promote its premium product ‘Sweet Palermo’, a sweet cornetto pepper with particular health benefits.
Rijk Zwaan needed to increase product recognition by maximising its characteristics:
Available all year round, in red, yellow, orange and chocolate brown varieties.
Elongated shape that makes it recognisable and distinguishable from classic square peppers.
Tender, thin skin with very few seeds inside.
Particularly sweet flavour
Extremely versatile in use: perfect both cooked and raw
In addition, Rijk Zwaan had identified a target audience:
men, women or couples, possibly with young children, young people (aged 27-37), particularly located in northern Italy and urban areas, with an interest in travel, sport and cooking, curious tasters of new flavours. Not necessarily vegetarians, but attentive to a balanced diet, even if they sometimes have little time to cook. Happy to share meals with family or friends.
Social media platform of greatest interest: Instagram.
The activities we implemented, aimed at increasing product awareness and engaging the target audience, were:
Lovemark paid particular attention to engaging creators, in line with the client’s request, to increase the product’s reputation and visibility.
Using an influencer marketing platform, we identified and selected a number of creator profiles, analysed metrics relating to their followers, reach, views and interactions, evaluated the proposals submitted, and finally chose 6 qualified creators to collaborate on the project.
The selected creators completed the creation of their 26 pieces of content: 3 carousels, 3 posts and 20 stories which, once approved by the Lovemark team and the client, were published on their personal Instagram profiles.
The content produced was symbolic of high-quality, highly creative communication, presenting Sweet Palermo peppers in all their facets and allowing users to discover a new aspect of the product to love every day. The posts focused on clear explanations of the characteristics of the peppers, maintaining a pop and ironic communication style in line with the Tone of Voice created.
The influencer marketing campaign generated a remarkable return, totalling over 40,000 impressions of campaign content and an engagement rate of 35.2%.
Alongside the creators’ activities, the Lovemark team developed the editorial plan for Love My Salad Italia’s Instagram and Facebook profiles with 9 posts on each channel over three months and the related sponsorship. The promotional campaigns for the posts dedicated to Sweet Palermo garnered over 600,000 impressions, totalling an engagement rate of 16%.
By analyzing the organic side of Love My Salad’s Facebook and Instagram profiles during the influencer marketing campaign period, a general increase in all quantitative metrics was observed, mainly related to impressions and reach.
Overall, the creators involved in the campaign were able to produce high-performing content both qualitatively and quantitatively, and Lovemark succeeded in developing a strategy that effectively achieved Love My Salad Italia’s objectives. The synergistic collaboration between the creators, the communication agency, and the client ensured consistent and persuasive content, amplifying the impact of the campaigns and reaching an ever-wider audience.
The accurate identification of users most aligned with the creators made it possible to establish genuine connections, making the product an integral part of consumers’ daily lives. This marriage between the creators and the “why” behind the product helped to build a compelling and unique narrative, strengthening Love My Salad’s positioning as a trusted and beloved brand.
In conclusion, in a constantly evolving digital landscape, the Influencer Marketing strategy for Love My Salad Italia proved to be a successful case, confirming that when the heart of the brand merges with the creators’ passion and attention toward the target audience, extraordinary and lasting results can be achieved.
