BOSTON– Heinz Foodservice and Communispace – a consumer collaboration agency – revealed the strategic insights behind the successful relaunch of HeinzFoodservice.com. Through “Let’s Dish,” a Communispace online community of foodservice professionals, Heinz discovered a considerable lack of business-building resources for foodservice operators and redesigned its website to fill this void. Only eight weeks after the relaunch, website traffic exceeded total visits from the previous year and continues to increase steadily.
The Heinz Consumer and Customer Insights team spent extensive time with “Let’s Dish” and found foodservice operators were looking for ways to share information among their peers, get inspired and garner business tips in order to thrive professionally. “Let’s Dish” was also used to pinpoint digital and social media behaviors to guarantee the website redesign would resonate with food professionals. The community consists of 300 foodservice decision makers who participate in activities and generate insights year round.
“Communispace’s insights were the backbone of the unique content, ideation and creative design of a website that is helping our customers succeed on a daily basis,” said Josie Cellone, digital marketing manager for Heinz Group57. “The high level of quality engagement we’ve seen with the site, as well as the volume of return visits, confirms that operators are finding content and information that is indispensable to their business. That is truly a testament to the value of the insights gleaned from our work with Communispace and the ‘Let’s Dish’ online food service professionals community.”
The website provides foodservice professionals inspiration for new menu ideas, business tips, recipes and a platform to engage with other food operators around the country. New trend articles are published twice per month around topics such as health and nutrition, and sustainability. Heinz foodservice-related experts post monthly blog posts and respond to operator questions on discussion boards. In the past six months, more than 28,000 operators visited the site, many of whom have shared ideas with peers who, otherwise, they would not normally engage.
“We’re excited that the Heinz Foodservice team has seen a significant impact from this project in such a short period of time,” said Communispace CEO Diane Hessan. “This success story demonstrates the critical importance of incorporating the consumer voice at the strategic level and into the DNA of any program.”
The website was launched in September 2012 by the Heinz Group57 Customer & Segment Marketing team, which is committed to driving traffic and consumption in areas such as insight-based menu and culinary innovation, on-going industry intelligence and marketing/merchandising strategies.
About Heinz
H.J. Heinz Company, offering “Good Food Every Day”™ is one of the world’s leading marketers and producers of healthy, convenient and affordable foods specializing in ketchup, sauces, meals, soups, snacks and infant nutrition. Heinz provides superior quality, taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether in the home, restaurants, the office or “on-the-go.” Heinz is a global family of leading branded products, including Heinz® Ketchup, sauces, soups, beans, pasta and infant foods (representing over one third of Heinz’s total sales), Ore-Ida® potato products, Weight Watchers® Smart Ones® entrées, T.G.I. Friday’s® snacks, and Plasmon infant nutrition. Heinz is famous for its iconic brands on six continents, showcased by Heinz® Ketchup, The World’s Favorite Ketchup®.
About Communispace
The world’s most admired brands turn to Communispace (www.communispace.com), the leader in generating actionable insights via private online customer communities. Founded in 1999, the company has created nearly 600 customer communities for over 100 industry leaders. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Sydney. Communispace is a part of Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.
About Diversified Agency Services
Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), manages Omnicom’s holdings in a variety of marketing communications disciplines. DAS includes over 200 companies, which operate through a combination of networks and regional organizations, serving international and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.
About Omnicom Group Inc.
Omnicom Group Inc. (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5000 clients in more than 100 countries.
Source: H.J. Heinz Company