Eta had been the most trusted dressing brand and market leader in the salad dressings market. However, more recently it had been in decline with eroding brand loyalty. Adding to the problem were changing consumer tastes and a growing preference for thick and creamy-style mayonnaise products. As a result Eta had slipped to the 4th largest mayo brand. To help arrest this slide, Eta did have a new SKU to bring to market, but there was not going to be any ATL spend for this campaign.

In the face of this challenge, one opportunity was spotted - daylight savings. It’s a moment when the weather starts improving, giving everyone more chances to socialise and enjoy time with friends and family. And with this comes a change in the types of things people like to cook (and consequently, the sauces and pourables they need to cook them). As people usually only buy one mayo product per year (and maybe two pourables), securing purchase at the start of the season is critical to increasing household penetration and securing that highly coveted shelf space in Kiwi family fridges and pantries for months to come.

How Do You Eta Salad? was a content-driven promotional strategy that not only incentivised purchase, but also gave consumers ongoing reasons to keep buying Eta (Mayo and Pourables). Along with a chance to win, inspirational recipes timed to coincide with the change in season were included (a key moment of purchase as food styles typically change with the weather).

By campaign’s end, not only had Eta’s brand decline stopped, it was substantially reversed, so much so that by the time How Do You Eta Salad? had finished, over 40% of all Kiwi households had an Eta product in their pantry.