In 2020, Sabra Canada had successfully secured itself as English Canada’s leading hummus brand. However, as the year came to an end, data showed that both the brand and the hummus category were losing penetration. In order to grow, Sabra needed to bring new consumers into the hummus category.
Sabra had previously targeted mothers, who are typically the primary household shopper as well as Sabra’s main consumer. However, upon diving deeper into the research, a new potential consumer group surfaced: adults under 35 without children. This audience represented a wealth of opportunity for Sabra, being a group who purchase abundantly in the snack category. However, historically, the hummus category had under-indexed with this same segment. While research showed that this audience did appreciate the taste of hummus and its natual ingredients, hummus simply was not top of mind for the audience, presenting one of the biggest barriers to purchase to overcome.
Therefore, Sabra’s #1 objective was to build awareness within this new target group in a memorable and relevant way, ensuring that they are top-of-mind for all their snacking needs.
In order to connect with Sabra’s new target audience in a memorable and relevant way, we looked at how their media consumption changed over the course of the pandemic. What we found was a monumental shift within this audience. An emerging platform was now monopolizing their time, and that platform was TikTok. TikTok had, seemingly overnight, captured the eyes and hearts of young Canadians, serving as a space where entertainment and positivity could combine forces when it was needed most.
This shift translated not only to audience growth, with TikTok’s audience doubling over the course of the pandemic, but also to audience diversification, with adults 18-34 now representing TikTok’s largest cohort versus its perceived Gen Z audience. Over the same period of time, TikTok grew into a creator-centric platform that brands could now capitalize on, with 68% of users having researched a brand after viewing a creator video. A presence within this space was exactly what Sabra needed to reach our goal of top-of-mind awareness with its target audience.
Our big idea was inspired by TikTok and Sabra’s most irresistible commonality: they’re both so good that when you start, you just can’t stop! This led to the Forever Dipping campaign, in which we partnerd with Tik Tok creators to celebrate the joy of snacking with Sabra, repositioning them as a delicious snack food that you just can’t stop dipping.
To bring this to life, we partnered with five TikTok Creators that specifically resonated with Canadians ages 18-34 and empowered them create video content showing Canada what Forever Dipping means to them. These creators included Jesse Jaurji, a GTA-based creator that embodies what it means to be a Torontonian, Priyanka, a former Canada’s Drag Race winner, On The Bench, a Canadian comedy duo that creates hockey-centric content, Austen Alexander, an Ontario-based comedian and Shelby Morisseau, an Alberta-based creator & performer. Not only were their audiences the ones we wanted to reach, but through utilizing this diverse group of creators (both men and women of different backgrounds, catering to various interests), Sabra was able to reach a broader contingency within that audience.
The result was entertaining and engaging video content that not only allowed Sabra to establish itself firmly in the snack category but was also native to the content that Sabra’s audience was already consuming on TikTok, ensuring that it would resonate with this audience. Far from feeling like an ad, this content felt right at home within Tik Tok’s comedic, entertaining, easily digestible offering, while also managing to stand out, as creators were chosen in part based on their ability to think creatively and push the boundaries.
The results show just that. The creator videos garnered over 15.5M video views and 83.5K engagements, showing that Sabra’s audience was engaged with its content. The campaign drove 3.5x higher Ad Recall & 3.0x higher Brand Awareness than TikTok benchmarks, showing that Sabra is more top-of-mind with its audience as a result of the campaign. And lastly, the campaign drove significant lift in favourability, showing that affinity was built for Sabra with its audience and that the campaign resonated in a relevant & memorable way.
