Helping hand / The cost-of-living crisis has forced people to take grave risks with the way they are keeping and consuming food. In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that almost a third of people had eaten out-of-date food items in the past month because they couldn’t afford to rebuy them, and around two in 10 had turned off their fridge or freezer to reduce their energy bill. In such times of consumer strife, Barilla has asked itself how it can be useful in a way that connects with its audience. The result is a campaign that provides pasta-eaters with information that allows them to save money and energy, and which ties back to Barilla’s product. By taking action to minimise people’s energy consumption during food preparation, Barilla adopts a consumer-centric approach that positions it as a thoughtful brand that offers its customers genuine utility. What’s more, the Passive Cooker was distributed as an open-source project. This means that, although the device is specifically adapted to pasta, its applications span beyond spag bol. This enhances the brand’s credibility in its commitment to be a helping hand during the recession and speaks to the Contagious Commandment ‘Be Generous’.
Passive recall / We’ve seen several campaigns tackling the cost-of-living crisis, such as Iceland’s recent effort to provide interest-free microloans to help people pay for their weekly shop.
Here, Barilla focuses on what it knows best – pasta. It goes beyond the point of purchase and extends itself along the consumer journey, to the kitchen and the moment the tagliatelle is tossed into the pan. Inserting itself from purchase to plate is a clever way for Barilla to build what Byron Sharp calls mental availability in such a highly commoditised category. When many brands operate in the same space, reminding people of your brand before and after buying situations is paramount as it makes shoppers more likely to reach for your product down the supermarket aisle.
It's not the first time that Barilla has used the pasta cooking process to multiply the opportunities of brand recall. In 2021, we covered Playlist Timer, which comprised eight music playlists that doubled as kitchen timers. The Passive Cooker highlights another enticing creative evocation of how Barilla connects itself to the kitchen.
First-class delivery / The energy-saving hack is an inherently PR-worthy idea, especially in times of generalised economic hardship. Barilla recognised this and conceived a device that stands as a practical and eye-catching illustration of how easy passive cooking can be. Simply explaining an age-old process in a boring press release or video is unlikely to catch the attention. A snazzy piece of tech on the other hand makes timely idea winningly digestible and makes it seem forward-thinking. There’s not much point in having a good idea if no one notices it. For marketers, the lesson is simple: there can be value in gimmicks. In fact, some can amplify the PR-ability of an already relevant idea by presenting it in an original and striking way.
