San Fernando: Thursdays Are For Turkeys
Imagine a country that only eats Turkey on Christmas… That was Peru 10 years ago.
As you know, I am from Peru and in this opportunity, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite Peruvian campaigns which was launched in 2012 and was a total success in the market.
Now let me introduce you to the brand before I start explaining the campaign. San Fernando is a leading company in the national market, with more than 69 years in the breeding, production, and marketing of chicken and turkey. Their product portfolio includes chicken, meat, sausages, and eggs. They have positioned themselves as the brand that has “more than 69 years uniting authentic families”. San Fernando is a well-known brand related to the following attributes: quality, guarantee, and prestige. Nevertheless, it did not have a strong emotional relationship with the market.
The challenge was to turn San Fernando into a love mark
As I mentioned before, families in Peru tend to eat Turkey only at Christmas, and that wasn’t profitable for the business. San Fernando wanted to increase turkey consumption from 1kg a year to once a week, promoting a healthy lifestyle and eating. They also wanted to create a new family tradition by making it a common lunch in Peruvian families, at least once a week: “Thursdays are for Turkey”. The key insight was highlighting the cons of not eating healthy and the benefits of eating healthy, having a healthy family, losing weight, and having energy.
What engaged me most was how they communicated the campaign message and the communication strategy used. They used a humoristic, and familiar tone. They even used rhymes! the campaign strategy San Fernando used was the great idea of connecting the product (turkey) to the families. To achieve that, they did a TV Ad where children told their parents about the benefits of eating healthy and feeling good. They reached consumers' feelings with the honesty of young children. They used phrases like: “Look how you’ve gained weight” and “Your pants won’t close”. In the TV Ad, they used kids, making it funnier, cuter, and more engaging. As we know, kids are characterized by always saying the truth, and this opportunity wasn’t an exception. Kids said their parents, uncles, and grandparents that they are fat using jokes.
It was shareable content, as people laughed while watching the Ad. The song they used was sticky and people were singing it in their day-to-day.
They invested around 8 million dollars in marketing efforts and activities, as the campaign was present in online and offline channels.
Donde social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) they used this kind of visual art:
They also suggested recipes and menus using turkey in different moments of the day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
They also had billboards on the busiest streets of the country.
And influencers too… Jefferson Farfan and his family, which is a famous Peruvian player was part of this campaign
So, this campaign story fits San Fernando's overall story and message, as they have always positioned themselves as a familiar brand. I consider they reinforced this idea with this campaign. They also used real families in their Ads, which made it more realistic and generated a special connection with Peruvian families, as it could be mine or your family. Customers felt identified, it was real and genuine, making it very engaging.
The results were positive for the brand, Turkey sales increased by 40% compared to the previous year. Before the campaign, everything that was not chicken meat represented 30% of sales. After the campaign, it increased by 10%. Consumption frequency was increased from 35% to 48%. Lastly, they Won an Effie Award which is a famous and important Marketing award in Peru.
Now, don’t be surprised if you meet a Peruvian and it's Thursday and they say to you: “It's Thursday, let’s eat turkey!”
