In 2020, we helped Bibigo launch their portfolio of Korean dumplings (called Mandu) in the U.S., and the brand garnered a devoted following of culturally curious flavor fans who were excited for more. However, as we turned the corner in 2021, Bibigo needed to throttle back and reallocate marketing dollars in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift impacted the brand’s overall media strategy, and our remit was to leverage social media platforms and design an engagement-focused campaign that was equal measures equity-building and conversion-driving.
So much of pop culture and social feeds is centered on food and sharing, so our idea centered on heroing Mandu and ritualizing an occasion. Bibigo’s Mandu deserved to have its day, which is why we created #ManduMonday. #ManduMonday is more than a hashtag; it is an ownable idea that took our product out of the freezer case and into an active role where we inspired followers and foodies to spice up the most mundane day of the week into a flavorful journey that needed to be shared.
To help extend our idea, we partnered with two social media chefs who took our product to new heights with exciting recipes and how-to videos. To help spark user engagement, we designed a weekly sweepstakes where winners received free product for themselves as well as a friend, because the thrill of winning is so much more delicious when it can be shared.
Move over #TacoTuesday and #WaffleWednesday; #ManduMonday just arrived.
The brand positioning we created for Bibigo was built from the human truth that sharing is a rewarding experience and, in fact, the more you share, the more you gain from it. We needed to create a meaningful sense of peer-to-peer sharing within the virtual world of social media, and what better way to promote the rewarding feeling of sharing than to have some culinary friends join us in getting people excited about Mandu?
With food being such a powerful connector between people, we set out to partner with two social media chefs who aligned with our brand’s sense of globality and community, Eastern flavors and Western customs. Our expansive audit led us to two professional chefs: Chris Cho and Gaby Dalkin. Chef Cho’s background as a renowned Korean-American chef and restaurateur and Chef Dalkin’s effervescent interpretation of California cuisine brought a winning combination of authenticity, creativity, and whimsy.
Rather than following conventions of nominating or tagging a friend in order to achieve a “shared experience,” we decided to bring the brand’s communal proposition to life with a sweepstakes where our followers could enter for the chance to win a Bibigo Box—a limited-edition package that included unique Mandu recipes from Chef Cho and Chef Dalkin, Mandu, Korean-style hot sauce, and a gift card to purchase recipe ingredients—delivered not only to the winner but also to a friend.
We launched the #ManduMonday program during the week of October 11, and it ran through the week of December 20 to coincide with the holiday season, when sharing and connectivity are top of mind. We leveraged TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram as our primary channels, and during the campaign, we tasked each chef influencer to post 10 pieces of original content to promote #ManduMonday, including stylized photography and fun video content that could be promoted via the brand’s platforms.
Influencer content was supported by a dedicated microsite and augmented by a robust paid social media plan where we continuously optimized our buy to remain as efficient as possible. CPM fluctuated during the campaign, most notably increasing during weeks leading up to major U.S. holidays due to competitive bidding, so we added in additional foodie interest keywords throughout the campaign to increase impressions and avoid creative wearout to balance out CPM increases.
#ManduMonday helped feed our craving for connectivity and sharing, and the program was so successful that it is now being used as a blueprint for 2022 activations across the Bibigo portfolio. Thanks to our fans and followers, Bibigo is #trending and #instagood.
Our influencers’ communities showed that they loved the content and trusted the credibility of the influencers, with many comments speaking to the desire to try the recipes. Each influencer substantially exceeded industry average engagement rates, and they drove an average of 977 #ManduMonday entries each week during the 10-week promotion. In whole, our influencer partnership secured:
3,030,768 impressions
2,653,075 engagements (likes, comments, views)
12.61% engagement rate (vs. industry average of 1.36%)
These results were incremental to our paid social campaign, which garnered over 8.1 million impressions and nearly 8,000 entries over 6 weeks. Our social program secured:
8,134,891 impressions with a $9.73 CPM (vs. $10 benchmark)
2,553,501 engagements (likes, comments, shares, views)
12,791 link clicks with a 0.16% CTR (vs. 0.10% benchmark)
