“I wasn’t very proud of our previous Yatekomo, now I am”.
It is not common for the head of a company to publicly acknowledge her dissatisfaction with a product that she has marketed for years. What’s more, throughout this year we have seen senior managers from Burger King or McDonald’s defend them on social networks, with greater or lesser success. But the statement is the one that Miranda Visscher, CEO of GBfoods Europe, shared to present the new Yatekomo recipe and launch “Sayonara”, a campaign that invites consumers to find the latest packaging made with the previous formula.
The brand, as explained in a statement and its manager has made known through digital channels, has reformulated its noodles to make them with ingredients that it defines as 100% natural, eliminating palm oil and artificial additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG). And instead of limiting itself to highlighting the attributes of the new recipe in a traditional communication, Yatekomo has decided to recognize the limitations of the previous one and make its disappearance the central argument of the promotion.
“Since arriving at GBfoods Europe, I knew we could play a key role in transforming the way millions of consumers eat across Europe; but, to do this, we had to start with ourselves. The uncomfortable truth is that I wasn’t especially proud to serve our old noodle recipe to my own family.“, commented Miranda Visscher about the product change. “So we went back to the kitchen and created the noodles of the future, while maintaining great flavor. We are placing naturalness, transparency and consumer trust at the center of the new stage of the brand”.
The campaign offers consumers a kind of treasure hunt throughout Spain. Between October 14 and 31, consumers will be able to locate and collect the latest Yatekomo glasses with the old recipe, both in supermarkets and in their own homes. The brand offers prizes for a total value of 100,000 euros to be distributed among the five participants who manage to accumulate the greatest number of glasses.
Users interested in participating must register on a website created especially for the initiative and upload a photo of each glass. As Yatekomo points out, consumers must be in possession of the physical packaging, since if they are among the five finalists they must send it for verification.
The strategy also seeks to involve consumers in the change and transition towards the new generation of Yatekomo noodles.
The campaign has been worked on by the GB Foods marketing team together with the agencies PS21 (creativity), True (PR) and Meme (Social Media) for Spain and Italy.
“Sayonara” moves away from the usual codes of product launches, in which innovations are usually presented as an improvement and positive evolution without openly questioning what was marketed up to that point. Instead, Yatekomo seeks to reinforce its credibility and connection with consumers by stating that the reformulation responds to a review of the company’s standards and that this improvement deserves to be explained in a transparent and honest way.
“With this campaign, we are changing the rules of brand communication in the mass consumption sector. We leave traditional messages behind to engage in an authentic, direct and transparent conversation with our consumers“; commented Josep Arcas, General Director of GBfoods Spain, in a statement. “And at the same time, we offer them a taste they can trust, with a new generation of 100% natural noodles”.
The change is part of the global transformation strategy of the GBfoods Europe portfolio and reflects its corporate purpose, expressed in “Taste You Can Trust”. With it, the company seeks to help millions of people eat better by bringing tasty, natural, nutritionally balanced and accessible meals to the market.
