Challenge
Del Monte wanted to boost its Thanksgiving sales but didn’t have any budget remaining for traditional television, radio, or print advertising. Del Monte’s marketing team asked PR Hacker to come up with a creative way to keep Del Monte green beans top of mind — especially by featuring its classic green bean casserole recipe.
Solution
To create news that a broad range of mass media outlets would cover in the two-week lead-up to Thanksgiving, PR Hacker created the Del Monte Green Bean Index — a ranking of which U.S. states love green bean casserole the most.
Leveraging our in-house market research team, we conducted a survey of 2,000 U.S. residents in under 48 hours, resulting in an individual ranking that could be pitched locally in each state (with Kentucky ranked #1 nationally). Because we knew that the story could work well on local TV, PR Hacker’s in-house video production team also filmed and edited ready-to-go video B-roll of Del Monte product and recipes.
Not only did we generate 200+ media hits—Del Monte saw an 11% sales lift over the previous year with no other marketing.