Creative solutions help America’s first online grocery delivery company fill its carts
Situation:
Peapod desired to transform the way Chicagoans think about meals, especially within the very competitive national online grocery delivery business.
Solution:
Reminding Chicagoans of an opportunity to free an average 47 minutes each week on trips to the grocery store, the Ballast Group created a unique influencer event marking the first time a Chicago executive chef and restaurant owner developed a meal kit for the company as it prepped for the launch of a variety of its chef-inspired meal kits.
Award-winning chef Jonathan Zaragoza of Birrieria Zaragoza at the helm (@goatboyintl 2k followers) with Chef Cameron Grant of Osteria Langhe, topped an inspiring, in an interactive chef experience merged their professional chef’s energy with 19 home and personal chefs’ creative minds in one kitchen for two hours.
Emphasizing “delivering Chicago to Chicago,” the event showcased an assortment of meals developed by Chicago chefs and brands including: Frontera Grill Pork Tacos; Wildfire Beef Tenderloin; Maple & Ash sauces and dressings; and Pepsi Flamin’ Hot Mac & Cheetos. From a competitive standpoint, another advantage in the marketplace was highlighted – no online subscription was required to bring the restaurant scene home when ordering these chef-inspired recipes and meal kits.
The group thrived on the variety and assortment available to conveniently fill peoples’ dinner tables and offer something for those not wanting to show up empty handed to a weekend BBQ or soiree. Cooling things down at Lincoln Park’s Social Table that evening were new liquor kits – think margaritas and frose – and tastings of Peapod’s new assortment of deliverable artisan summer ice creams from Jeni’s, Graeter’s and Purple Door.
Results:
Chef Grant, Peapod’s 2018 Next Best competition winner, whipped up his award-winning Plin Pasta. Ballast recruited Jessica Castaneda of @easylivingtoday (165k followers), Erica Eckman @everythingerica (76k followers), Erin Byrne @312food (77k followers), Julie Gordon of @inspiringkitchen (42k followers), Seth Marcus, CPG consultant and @chicityfoodie (29k followers), Erica Watson @miss_poundcakes (7k followers), Kendra Petersen of @drizzlekitchen (2.5k followers), and former breakfast-eur turned Chicago Tribune columnist, Ina Pinkney @breakfastqueen1 (2k followers).
Influencer event results included 19 new-to-Peapod, notable global influencers attending and raising awareness from 922k shared media impressions in one week on various social platforms, predominantly Instagram. Ballast created a digital library with 55 assets to further amplify on social media, the web and other Peapod-owned media.
Follow Ballast Group
 |  |
Follow our founder
| |
