You may have already seen them –
the television commercials showcasing ordinary South African’s, in quirky,
vibrant and brilliantly colourful settings, each enjoying a mouthful of vegetables
whilst trying to convey in words how tasty each mouthful is. For the
benefit of the viewer, subtitles are showcased at the bottom of the screen.
The commercial ends with a
cheerful South African voice saying that: “No matter how you say it, we’re BIG
ON TASTE”
The brand is Nature’s Garden.
Never heard of them?
Not surprising. This brand, although in market and in coffin
and upright freezers in all the major retailers since 2005, has only recently
decided to grow the brand and the frozen vegetable category and in so doing,
make certain the major players in the market do ‘think again’ about this
new-comer.
“We are so passionate and excited
about this brand” says Julia Holley (Group Marketing Manager for Nature’s
Choice Products) And this passion and excitement is certainly evident in the
product that is currently screening on SABC and eTV.
When asked about the brand:
Nature’s Garden, Bevan Lynch (Brand Manager at Nature’s Choice Products had
this to say:
“Nature’s Garden is Natural;
Down-to-earth and Authentic – and we wanted to make sure the brand lives this
personality through all the media touch points.
The archetypal characters in the commercials, the settings as well as
what each character is saying (or trying to say) absolutely conveys this
personality. We are very happy with the direction.”
THE INNOVATION: Food in Webspace
Working together with Cow Africa
(Online and Digital agency based in Cape Town) Nature’s Garden has uniquely
captured the true essence of the brand and made the concept of interactivity a
reality.
What does this mean?
At the website www.naturesgarden.co.za, apart from
the mandatory product and contact us pages, for a food brand, one would think
that at least a recipe page promoting their products would be the next logical
page to have.
Not Nature’s Garden.
The brand has taken it one step
further. Appearing in front of the user
on the PAIRINGS page (most likely a
foodie) is a table setting with an empty plate and visual icons on the right
showcasing the variants offered by Nature’s Garden. Among the 14 offerings are Classic Mixed Veg as well as Oven Bake Fries.
The User can then drag any of the
14 icons onto the blank space on the plate on the screen and after a few
seconds a plated meal appears.
Along with a great visual of the
meal, 3 speech bubbles surround each offering.
One details the name of the dish and an option to download the recipe in
PDF format right away to your desk top.
The other two speech bubbles talk around information (interesting facts
or historical info) about the veggies and a quick tip on how to add a bit more
zing to the dish displayed.
Without knowing it, Nature’s
Garden have created an interactive space to play around with veggies –
When asked about the rationale
for calling this particular page of the website, the Pairings Page, Julia
Holley had this to say:
“We understand that frozen
vegetables are largely considered secondary when thinking about preparing meals
within the South African context. So instead of calling the page the normal:
RECIPE PAGE, we decided to call it the PAIRINGS page – and that is exactly what
it is – awesome pairings using our product. We also know that those with little
time are those who are at work and have access to the internet and thus the
Nature’s Garden Website. These people
are looking for convenience and also looking for great taste! So instead of
something that has been seen before, we decided together with direction from
COW AFRICA, to go the interactive route and display the food in a way we all
appreciate – on a plate and ready to eat!”
Taking it to another level,
Expect Big things from the brand that is Big On Taste!