Work

CENTRAL MARKET CAMPAIGNS

Chiles and
Cheeses and
Beers (Oh my!)

Engaging campaigns play up Central Market’s expertise in all things delicious. A red-hot recipe contest, an in-depth look at the brewer’s art and a cheesy play on politics invited Central Market customers to get into their favorite fall flavors, online and off.

Hatch Chile Festival: Feel the Burn

Central Market has been bringing New Mexico’s Hatch Chiles to the attention of Texan taste buds for 15 years. To mark this time-honored tradition, we created an interactive experience on CentralMarket.com and beyond.

An eye-catching home page takeover announced the festival in sizzling style. Customers could share their wildest Hatch Chile recipes or become a contest judge. More than 300 took up the challenge — more than three times the contestants of the previous year. Plus, more than 500 participants wanted to judge the spicy results. Gift cards, gift baskets and 75 pounds of delicious roasted chiles awaited the lucky winners.

Select banner advertising plus social mini contests on Facebook and Twitter sparked lively conversation and drove traffic to the site, which spiked to 10,000 visitors. Facebook fans grew by nearly 5% during the contest.

“Presented Hatch online to “oohs,” “ahhs” and “wows”! It was a big hit — thanks for all the creativity and hard work. They loved the flaming peppers — muy caliente!”

Aimee Deputy Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications

Discover Brewtopia: Find Your Hoppy Place

The message of the Brewtopia event was loud and clear: If you love beer, get to your Central Market store. While Central Market prepared to bring brewers in for special tasting, pairing and dinner events, we put together an online experience to get customers excited about beer, and help them figure out what to look for.

First, we asked Central Market’s Facebook and Twitter audiences to tell us about their favorite beers. Responses and posts drove them to CentralMarket.com to see which brewers and beers they could “discover” during the Brewtopia event.

The incredible array of brews at Central Market is awe-inspiring, if not a little intimidating. Our home page takeover helped by highlighting featured brewers, a favorite beer from their line and providing handy tasting notes. Users could click to get details on each brewer’s in-store appearances or on new, beer-themed cooking classes.

The event generated the highest site engagement levels since the Hatch Chile Festival, and garnered incremental increases in the social audience. Looking at traffic patterns, we could tell Central Market which beers generated the most clicks. We also made the cooking school very happy, with more than 4,200 referrals to the school’s class schedule.

Hail to the Cheese: It’s A Wedge Issue

How do you pack in more fall fun before the holidays hit? Give the people a chance to talk cheese. A clever politically-inspired campaign allowed Central Market customers to join the “Cheese Party” and make their taste preferences known.

Scaling our offerings to the opportunity, we put together some quick online support to help the stores drum up excitement. A Facebook poll allowed users to vote for their favorite cheese for a chance to win witty cheese party buttons, which were also given away at the stores.

Social exchanges lead to an annual peak for likes and incremental social gains. Online content promoted Central Market’s Cheese Guide, which saw more than 500 downloads during the 2-week event, and drove more than 1,100 referrals to cheese-oriented cooking school classes.