Challenger Brand Issue: Introducing Cape Cod Potato Chips to Social Media.

Cape Cod Potato Chips has largely grown by word of mouth. Founded in the 1980s in the Northeast vacation destination area of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the brand saw explosive growth in the New England area. As families traveled to the cape for vacation, they would fall in love with the kettle-cooked chips and take them back home to neighboring states. Today, Cape Cod chips are well-known in the Northeast and Southeast, but the brand was looking to raise awareness among new consumers in additional regions.

Insights
Given the exponential word-of-mouth opportunities available via social media, GKV developed a pilot program to test the social media waters. GKV recommended promoting Cape Cod’s best-selling variety, the 40% Reduced Fat Potato Chips, in its effort to execute its first social media program.

Challenger Brand Solution
Research showed that Hungry Girl (Hungry-Girl.com) would be the best space to launch both an earned and paid social media program. Hungry Girl (a.k.a. Lisa Lillien) has cookbooks, a website and a daily e-newsletter with more than 700,000 subscribers. Her loyal following of women ages 18 – 49 follow her advice and recommendations. In fact, a glowing review from Lisa can send a product’s sales upward.

Results
GKV sent samples of the 40% Reduced Fat Cape Cod Potato Chips to Hungry Girl. On National Potato Chip Day 2009, Hungry Girl raved about the kettle-cooked chips saying: “somebody needs to give this people a medal!” Armed with this, GKV launched a one-time e-newsletter sponsorship with Hungry Girl that included samples to the first 500 persons and an online discount code to anyone completing a form. The samples were filled in just six hours, Cape Cod’s e-mail database increased nearly 7 times with more than 36,000 new consumers and online gift shop sales more than doubled.