MAD//Fest Innovation Pitch: Watch McCormick Choose WYSPR To Increase Customer Engagement
26 August 2022
Global food company McCormick is to partner with self-acclaimed friendvertising, data company, and start-up, WYSPR to help personalise their marketing for maximum customer engagement after a successful pitch at MAD//Fest London last month.
WYSPR will now have the chance to scale their business with McCormick through a £20K pilot pitch.
As the world's largest herb & spice company, McCormick, (Schwartz in the UK), were looking for solutions that can sustain growth through inspiring people to cook more in a post-pandemic world.
Andrew Hardeman, Senior Director, Global Digital and Communications at McCormick outlined the brief further. "We're looking at how we can scale personalisation. So part of the challenge is how we work with influencers and how we can be authentic across the messy middle, and our digital ecosystem."
WYSPR pitched a new approach to reach consumers on social media through their signature service; Friendfluencing™️.
WSPR's co-founder, Ollie Bourne outlined that, "by using regular social media users to spread the word about brands and products on their personal accounts, WYSPR can reach friends and family, not just fans and followers. We pitched the concept of using hundreds of university students to show how they use McCormick's branded products to start cooking at university. " He added, "by positioning McCormick’s products at the core of this experience, we can help form purchasing habits that can last a lifetime." he added.
It was this engagement rate that really impressed McCormick. The average influencer engagement rate now sits at just 2.4% whereas Friendfluencers achieve 24% on average. Andrew Hardeman was very impressed and exclaimed, when announcing WYSPR as the winner, ‘You can’t argue with an engagement rate like that!’
Hosted by McCormick's Director Consumer Growth Platforms EMEA, Olivia Wilson, Andrew Hardeman, and Co:Cubed Founder and CEO Jeremy Basset, WTSPR pitched against a strong line-up of start-ups featuring Stampix, Inkpact, Favoured, and Conferwith. Watch their winning pitch here.
You can watch all the MAD//Fest London action including the PITCH//IT sessions from Coca-Cola, Boots, EON, M&S, and AB InBev on our YouTube channel. Just select the ‘House of Innovation’ playlist for each day to catch all of the pitches.