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MasterChef juggernaut keeps on rollin’ as controversial season three ups the eyeballs—UPDATED

Over 2.6 million New Zealanders tuned in to watch series
three of MasterChef New Zealand, with an average 590,000 Kiwis aged
five-plus watching every week making for a nine percent increase on
season two and a 14 percent increase on season one. And the producers
have had to clear up some confusion when a bit of social media Chinese
whispering took hold after some unmentioned goings on in the final came
to viewers’ attention. 

Auckland marketing executive Chelsea Winter, who works at finance
company Heartland NZ, was named as the winner and took home over
$100,000 worth of prizes after beating fellow finalist Ana Schwarz
in four challenges (Countdown is already getting its pound of flesh and
is running an ad featuring her and one of the current Smart Shopper
mascots and past MasterChef Brett McGregor).

The special two-hour episode (watch it here)
topped the ratings in One’s 25- 54 target demographic, achieving 19
percent and making it the highest rating episode of any show on the
channel to date this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQP3rkyswSA

“MasterChef New Zealand has proven yet
again that audiences love big, bold and entertaining locally-made
television,” says head of TV ONE and TV2, Jeff Latch. “The series is
fast becoming a Kiwi classic, and with MasterChef NZ four about to go
into production, is certain to remain so.”

Nark-gate
certainly added to the drama this season, and a few accusations of
favouritism for what many believe was the more marketable contestant
were also made on social media, with claims that Winter received an
extra 15 minutes on top of the three hours to complete the ‘tortuous
trifle’. That wasn’t mentioned in the show, but a statement on the MasterChef Facebook page
from TVNZ, production company Imagination and the two contestants
said: “At the end of the three hours neither of us were in a position to
plate up and present our trifles to a standard we were happy with. When
the producers offered us both the same time extension to complete the
challenge, we accepted.”

With increasing audience numbers, the
numerous partners of the show, including Fisher & Paykel, Skoda,
Campbells and Stevens, will no doubt be pleased their commercial
messages are getting in front of more New Zealanders (especially the
more powerful ‘integrated’ messages in the show). And, as discussed in this case study that
was written by Lesley Springall for ThinkTV, Progressive Enterprises’
connection with the show was a major part of its strategy to help bring
its three existing brands into one Countdown brand.

“We knew we had to take New Zealanders on a journey to
what we essentially considered a whole new brand,” says Bridget Lamont,
General Manager Marketing at Countdown. Lamont and her colleagues had
started to lay the groundwork for building a relationship between the
new Countdown and its customers, but they knew they needed to do more.

“We
really needed to grow people’s relationship with the brand, but you
can’t do that unless people are going to emotionally connect – and
MasterChef was that opportunity for us.”

The fit was good, but it
was also a big leap to go in all guns blazing and do a fully-integrated
campaign, making the television show and everything in it and around it a
central pillar of Countdown’s marketing strategy.

“It was a big
risk because Countdown as a brand in New Zealand at the time was very
different to what MasterChef stands for. Here people were still trying
to get over that Countdown was not this big-box, warehouse supermarket
anymore,” says Sally Copland, Countdown’s Business Manager Brand. “We
wanted to be fully integrated because we knew that the show could really
help us talk about the quality and the range at Countdown.”

The Countdown brand is fully integrated into the fabric of TVNZ’s MasterChef NZ.

Countdown
went all out to own MasterChef and ensure its brand was synonymous with
the choice, quality and inspiration MasterChef provided. The brand was
fully integrated into the programme with the Countdown Pantry, the
Countdown clock and references to Countdown.

There were a host of
different advertisements supporting the sponsorship, both standalone and
involving Countdown’s own TV family The Colemans. The MasterChef brand
was rolled out through online initiatives and in-store where staff wore
MasterChef-branded T-shirts and, later, aprons. After the first series
more than 73% of MasterChef viewers were aware Countdown was the
principal sponsor. Today recall is up to 94%.

The relationship
between Countdown and MasterChef continues to evolve with past
contestants now fronting Countdown’s Smart Shopper initiatives.

Now
on to its third series, the sponsorship initiatives have evolved even
further with the success of the partnership. The winner of the first
MasterChef series, Brett McGregor and finalist of the second series, Jax
Hamilton have taken over Countdown’s regular Smart Shopper slots and
have produced a range of “How to” videos for YouTube to help budding
master chefs with the basics. Also the spin-off show, MasterChef
Masterclass, featuring recipes from Masterchef judges, promotes what’s
currently in season at Countdown.

Not everything has worked. An
online game introduced for series two was dropped in favour of the “How
to” videos for series three. Recipes have been simplified and one
episode in series two which required a contestant to rush out to the
nearest Countdown store to get an ingredient was considered a step too
far, admits Alistair Duff, TVNZ’s [ex]General Manager of Media Sales.

“Things work when they don’t feel forced; when they make sense to the show.”

Countdown’s
customers are asked at the end of each series what they like. Countdown
also holds regular focus groups, reviews opinions and discussions
online and has an online research panel to track what people think about
the brand. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Countdown’s
market share has increased, how people see the brand has vastly improved
and, proving that emotional connection, Countdown’s Facebook fans have
shot up from 33,000 to 115,000 in less than a year.

“We’ve added
and we’ve refined as the shows have continued because we’ve got better
at it,” says Copland. “This is a campaign that touches everything we
do.”

Copland admits it wouldn’t have been possible to achieve what
the company’s achieved without TVNZ’s television show. “It’s subtle:
the same time that people are being entertained, they are being exposed
to Countdown as a new, modern-day supermarket concept. Television gives
us that core; that core content, that core idea that we want to
communicate to our consumers. We want to inspire people to be master
chefs in their own kitchens. We could have chosen to be in the show and
do nothing more about it. But that’s not actually connecting us to what
we do for New Zealand consumers when it comes to food.”

For
integration to work well it has to be a no-holds-barred partnership
between broadcaster, programme producer and advertiser, says Duff.
“Television delivers the mass eyeballs, but what next? That’s what a
good integrated partnership is about; really understanding what the
client wants to do and helping them get there. Smart advertisers know
you have to leverage it and smart broadcasters should be able to help
advertisers to do that. The reach of television today goes far beyond
the screen.”

Integrated television campaigns are in a process of
evolution in New Zealand, says Duff, but there’s still a long, long way
to go. “If you do it well, it might cost a little more, but the returns
are infinitely higher than just putting your billboard around
something.”

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