Hot Sampling Ideas – for Autumn & Winter
As the weather turns colder, your brand can present hot samples to your target consumers, to warm them to your brand. Here are four hot seasonal sampling examples to set your retail sales on fire! 🔥
GLORIOUS SOUP – VW SOUP SAMPLING VAN
LINK sourced an old VW flatbed truck, rebuilt it from the ground up to ensure reliability, fitted a working kitchen on the back and took it on a glorious sampling tour for Glorious Soup. Over sixteen weeks of autumn it was used to sample at supermarkets, food festivals, train stations, universities, high streets and winter seasonal events.
Over 100,000 customers received a steaming hot soup sample on the cold days, helping Glorious to establish their position on the fresh soup aisles for many years to come.
MEATLESS FARM – CHILLI NON CARNE
Meatless Farm used hot sampling of freshly cooked chilli ‘non’ carne to launch their mince alternative across Morrisons Supermarkets.
LINK created two portable hot catering carts, using reclaimed timber and eco inks as the platform to engage shoppers. Each cart could cook up and serve over 1,000 hot tasters from the entrance areas and foyers of flagship sized superstores.
The campaign achieved triple digit sales, growing the brand’s Rate of Sale by 700% and helping to secure it’s growth into new stockists.
PRINCES – BONFIRE NIGHT HOT DOGS
Sometimes the key to a campaign’s success is simply about timing! While hot dogs are not normally associated with winter, they are ideally suited for Halloween and Bonfire night parties and gatherings.
Princes used this timing to engage families with a sampling tour of Sainsburys supermarkets. Hot hot dogs were served up alongside a range of easy to make toppings to add a gourmet edge to those who want more than a drizzle of ketchup!
Shoppers of all ages flocked round the sampling event tents and cleared the shelves of stock. The campaign sold hundreds of units per store per day in the weeks leading up to the seasonal festivities.
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CADBURY HOT CHOCOLATE – SAMPLING VAN & IGLOO!
Perhaps the ultimate winter warmer is hot chocolate. When Cadbury wanted to increase their social media following, they used converted ice cream to serve hot chocolates, with a twist! Rather than a summer time 99 ice cream cone with a flake, a Winter 66 was hot chocolate, topped with squrity cream and finished with a Cadbury Flake!
To add an additional fun dimension, a giant wooly bobble hat was created as a sit in igloo! It had furry floors, soft cushions and a warming fire place for sample recipients to enjoy their hot sample.
The event area toured the UK, sampling across supermarkets, office areas, shopping malls, high streets, uni campuses – and even reaching winter surfers on Cornish beaches! The campaign amassed hundreds of thousands of new followers on social media, plus hundreds of thousands in valuable media coverage – and secured Cadbury’s dominance over the category for many more years to come.