Tesco: cost-of-living campaign content

No-waste recipe hub, videos and digital tools

Don’t mention the C word. We get it: ‘crisis’ is not something that brands like to talk about. But with the reality of rising food prices, Tesco needed to find a way to continue to deliver on great value for its customers.

And as Tesco's content marketing agency, Cedar was in a perfect position to help.

Agile content planning

We developed a through-the-line content campaign to help customers cut the cost of their weekly shop and reduce food waste. 

Two new video content franchises, a bespoke hub on the Tesco Real Food website as well as digital planning tools and value-focused magazine content saw a significant uplift in NPS scores and increased engagement across the content ecosystem.

A through-the-line solution

Based on the knowledge that £300-worth of food is thrown away by the average household each year, Cedar launched a new Fridge Raid Feasts video series, with key foodies and influencers sharing tips on creating flexible recipes using commonly wasted ingredients. 

The Tesco Use Up Day initiative was created to encourage customers to ‘fridge forage’ for meals one day every week. To support this, we launched a No Waste content hub on the Tesco Real Food website, designed to help people save money and reduce food waste, as well as boosting the ‘Spend less at Tesco’ campaign.

Innovative digital tools

The hub houses our ‘What can I make with…?’ recipe finder tool, developed during lockdown to meet the needs of people with limited access to ingredients, and boosted as part of this campaign.

In the magazine, we launched a new Cook Once, Eat Twice franchise, plus a bank of recipes on the website, alongside our hugely popular 5 for £25 family meal plans, which supports customers in a more frugal mindset.

The results 

This multi-channel content campaign has succeeded cutting through the noise of value comms and been genuinely helpful at a time when customers need it most. It has also improved brand perceptions, with an NPS score of 39 and increases in quality and value perceptions of +5% and +6% respectively.

This is the kind of purpose-driven creative that we love making at Cedar. Content that, as well as delivering for brands and their bottom lines, does good for customers and communities. 

Sources: Shopper Thoughts; SEMRush July 2022