Ottolenghi
The Challenge
In 2006, Ottolenghi started a weekly food column The New Vegetarian in the Guardian, and his first cookbook Ottolenghi was published two years later. It was followed by another six bestsellers including Simple (2018) and Flavour (2020).
After a successful run of books, OTK Shelf Love was to mark the first in a series of books showcasing the recipes of Noor and the team who work in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. The new series of books showcase relaxed, flexible home cooking from Yotam and his superteam.
With a different look and feel to the previous Ottolenghi releases, it was our job to get his existing fanbase excited about the new-look release, as well as those food lovers who were yet to try his recipes.
The Brief
Knowing that the Ottolenghi fanbase had expanded during lockdown with people trying to make dinner time more exciting, we needed our paid media to engage a broad audience of new and existing Ottolenghi fans.
Our plan focused on mirroring the creativity of the Shelf Love recipes, using formats that could showcase the food and inspire people to continue making new and innovative recipes.
What We Did
Our campaign focused on channels that could showcase the vibrant visuals of Shelf Love in ways that would appeal to our London-skewed audience.
Outdoor: A hero site outside of Borough Market was chosen to reach new, food-loving individuals and inspire them to pick up a copy of Shelf Love. The site included 3D shelves and spices, encouraging passersby to take a #Shelfie. To reach existing Ottolenghi fans we handpicked sites in LU stations closest to his London restaurants.
Digital: YouTube and Pinterest offered a way of granularly targeting our food-loving individuals, using YouTube to showcase the sensory experience and creativity of the new book whilst Pinterest offered us the opportunity to put Shelf Love recipes in front of the audience when they were searching for recipe inspiration.
The Results
Shelf Love was the number 1 bestseller upon publication in the non-fiction paperback chart, also peaking at number 4 across all non-fiction. The success continued into week 2, holding the number 1 position in the non-fiction paperback chart with continued sales through to the festive period and beyond.
the7stars is the UK’s largest independent media agency, offering the best people, the best service and the best creative media campaigns.
Since our inception in 2005, we set out on a mission – to inspire the exceptional and defeat the bad and the boring. By championing a transparent and collaborative way of working, our goal was to deliver award-winning work for clients across a vast array of sectors, whilst also fostering a truly vibrant and inclusive culture that welcomes the best industry talent from all walks of life. All in all, we were committed to exceeding expectations in our relationships with both clients and our people.
19 years on, we have achieved all of this and more. We have graced The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work list for eleven consecutive years, whilst also being crowned Campaign’s Best Place to Work in 2023, 2022, and 2020. Our work has garnered acclaim from the likes of Media Week, Thinkbox, Campaign Magazine, The Drum, AdWeek, and more. We have continued to grow our agency every single year, delivered show-stopping work for our clients, and have consistently delivered exceptional media value.