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Virgin Mobile enlists celebrity chef for next phase of #Mealforameal social initiative

Virgin Mobile has enlisted celebrity chef Guillaume Brahimi for the next stage of its #Mealforamal social initiative which was launched last year.

The new campaign, created by One Green Bean, shows the chef poking fun at the trend to post photos of perfect meals to Instagram as Virgin Mobile challenges the public to post photos of everything they’re eating with a promise to donate a meal to food charity OzHarvest for every food selfie postedusing the #mealforameal hashtag.

At the heart of the renewed push is two pieces of digital content featuring Brahimi in a spoof of a cooking show format.  UK web content creators, YES Studio, who are known for their spoof cooking show format, produced the Soufflé video.

Virgin Mobile director of brand and communications Nicole Bardsley said in a statement:“We’re so passionate about our partnership with OzHarvest and we love #mealforameal because it’s moved beyond being just a campaign to become a social movement.

“I believe this is because we aren’t asking people to change their mobile behavior, we are giving them a way to feel better about it.

“Taking pictures of food is great! It’s not about mocking this behavior, it’s about showing Aussies that their food pics can be so much more. They can be turned into real meals for people who need them.”

The second film, which sees Brahimi cooking the ultimate ham and cheese toastie, was produced by local production house The Precinct.

On working with Yes Studio Bardsley said: “It’s hard to stand out in a cluttered digital environment, to get people to stop scrolling and not only watch but engage with branded content.

“We like to approach things differently at Virgin Mobile, so we wanted to turn the cooking show format on its head as a way of generating interest in our cause.

“YES Studio are masters at creating content that not only entertains but surprises people, so we wanted to use their unique comedic technique to get people talking about #mealforameal.”

Virgin Mobile first launched the initiative in July last year as part of its brand campaign which sough to transform anti social phone behaviour into a “force for good”.

OzHarvest founder and CEO Ronni Kahn siad in a statement: “Last year, we were able to deliver a quarter of a million meals to Aussies in need through the #mealforameal initiative.

“I believe the success of this was because Virgin Mobile tapped into an existing mobile behaviour and gave people the opportunity to turn it into something more meaningful.

“This year, we’re asking people to do something that’s perhaps less comfortable – post all their food pics, no matter what they look like! We’re hoping this will mean more food pics and therefore more real meals we can deliver.”

The content is supported with a digital media buy spanning YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, with premium video ads running across Instagram.

The campaign is being supported with a wider PR and social campaign, which includes a dedicated paid and editorial influencer program.

Credits:

  • Creative – One Green Bean
  • Digital – One Green Bean
  • PR – One Green Bean
  • Media – Starcom
  • ATL – Havas Worldwide Australia
  • Video Credits
  • Passion Fruit Soufflé
  • Creative – YES Studio and One Green Bean
  • Production – The Precinct & YES Studio
  • Directors – Ducie Cowling, Sam Oraj and Adam Morley (Yes Studio) David Barker (The Precinct )
  • Post production – YES Studio and The Precinct
  • The Ultimate Ham and Cheese Toastie
  • Creative – One Green Bean
  • Production – The Precinct
  • Director – David Barker
  • Post production – The Precinct
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