French’s declared 2021 “The year of the sandwich.” Overall, our charge was to get our mustard on one more sandwich. French’s Classic Yellow Mustard also happens to be a healthier choice in the condiment category. We were tasked with raising awareness of the brighter benefits of mustard and getting sandwich eaters to rethink their fattier sandwich spreads.
Compared to many of the condiments in the category, mustard is a healthier option. French’s Classic Yellow Mustard has 0 Fat and 0 Calories per serving. Main ingredients like turmeric, vinegar, and mustard seeds are a healthier choice than fatty oils, eggs, or dairy. But despite being a healthier condiment, only 20% of consumers describe it that way.
Mustard also provides the same moistness to a sandwich as fattier spreads, but they make their way onto 37% of all sandwiches, while mustard only gets on 22%.
It’s also a common saying to claim, “if it tastes good, it must be bad for you.”
Even though healthier is better, Americans hate giving up the food they love.
Our strategy was to prove that French’s Mustard is a simple healthier switch Americans can make on their sandwiches, without sacrificing the flavor.
So we made the first ever sandwich that encourages healthier eating behaviors - the #MustSwitch.
We partnered with chef Tom Colicchio, known for his over 10 restaurants and his longstanding role as judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, to build the perfect recipe. To get the MustSwitch, we asked people to pay with mayonnaise... No cash, no card. Just their jars of mayo or a pledge to hold the mayo and make the switch to French’s Mustard. The MustSwitch sandwich was available for a limited time at a French's popup in NYC and online for nation-wide shipping.
Our goal was to get mustard on one more sandwich.
We sold 675,000 more French’s bottles during the campaign timeframe than we did in 2019. In fact, sales were up 15.8% over the same time frame vs. 2019.
French's MustSwitch also made some buzz. Selling out in 6 hours and driving 47 million social impressions and 312 million earned media impressions.
And our work driving the health and wellness benefit of mustard opened the category to Americans concerned with health benefits and showed others how they could start with one healthy choice and still enjoy the sandwiches they loved.
French's for the win.
