Campbell's

"Plate of Mind"

The way that people search, prepare and share meal ideas has changed dramatically. People have moved from cookbooks and magazines to online and apps. For a 143–year old company like Campbell"s, this shift led to a complete rethink of how to connect with the cooks of the future.

The challenge was to take Campbell"s 3,500 recipes and increase views among millions of cooks around North America. In order to drive recipe views, Proximity had to evolve Campbellskitchen.com from a search–based recipe website to a more dynamic, interactive framework.

The agency developed a recipe API – it was essentially a way for people to access Campbell"s existing database of recipes that were re–organized and curated in different ways (e.g. by ingredients, cooking time, style, ethnicity, etc.). The agency then opened up the platform and allowed anyone to build their own more intuitive, user–needs–based platform using Campbell"s recipes.

To spark developers" interest, Proximity kicked off the campaign with a competition called "Hack the Kitchen." The brief for the developers was to build a prototype digital experience that helps people answer the question: "What should I make for dinner tonight?"

In just six weeks, 148 ready–to–go apps were submitted and "Hack the Kitchen" was covered in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable and hundreds of other outlets. From the 148 apps, the agency and brand selected "Plate of Mind" where people were served Campbell"s Kitchen recipes based on nine different moods.

The challenge with food and drink apps is the volume of competitors and established brands operating in the space. But most of them are search–based recipe sites. To stand out, Plate of Mind combines an element of gaming with the traditional, branded recipe–based site. Because people often choose their meals according to what they "feel like" eating, recipes curated by Campbell"s Kitchen are uniquely served up based on which of the nine moods a user selects.

All recipe components included preparation times, serving size, star rating, ingredients, instructions and nutrition. Each recipe can be converted into a shopping list, saved to favourites to be viewed later and shared with friends.

Plate of Mind launched in May 2014. At the time of writing, downloads were already in the thousands. Since launch, the brand has seen a high adoption rate, positive user reviews and continue to refine based on consumer needs.