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Brief
The Patak’s brand stems from traditional, family, Indian roots. The company was founded by Kirit Pathak, whose family came to London in 1957 when he was a small child. His father started selling authentic Indian snacks to support the family, and Kirit helped by delivering the parcels. It was from here that the Patak’s business grew and that curry came to Britain.
However, whilst the story of how Patak’s came to spark a national obsession comes across strongly in their TV creative using the brand positioning of “Why Britain Loves Curry”, it was not translating online. Whilst there was a wealth of recipes and useful product information on their website, it lacked the Patak’s human face and a reason for consumers to engage and return.
Patak’s wanted to evolve their online presence to bring their brand to life online and drive ongoing consumer engagement with it.
Strategy
Why would a consumer who has 100s of recipe sites at their disposal want to engage with an FMCG brand on an ongoing basis? The majority wouldn’t. But they might if that brand tapped into a passion.
Our nation has a shared love of curry, and not only for the flavours, but also for the unique rituals and experiences that are associated with it. Get 10 curry lovers in a room and you can guarantee they’ll all have an opinion. Which is the best curry? How spicy should it be? Who’s is the best recipe? Naan or rice? Plain or garlic? Share the dishes or eat your own? The list goes on…
It is this shared passion for cooking curry that Patak’s needed to harness and own online. Out of all the brands in the market place they had the most right to do so – they were the ones that brought curry to our nation in the first place.
As their brand positioning states, Patak’s is Why Britain Loves Curry. But in an online environment we needed more than a brand statement. We needed something actionable that consumers could get involved in.
Execution
The Patak’s Curry Club was created to allow consumers to engage with Patak’s on more than simply a brand and product level. It was created to provide a community where curry lovers could come together over their shared love of cooking curry – to debate and enjoy recipes, flavours, rituals and dishes.
However, for a “Club” to be successful, it needs to have tangible content and real benefits. You need more than just a name on a Facebook page. The Patak’s Curry Club was therefore headed up by a real panel of experts to provide recipes, inspiration and advice, and provide a rich source of content. This was made up of Anjali Pathak (granddaughter of Kirit Pathak), Dhruv Baker (a previous Masterchef winner) and Susie Atkins (drinks expert).
Using the Patak’s Curry Club, the website was evolved away from feeling like a corporate brochure towards more of a community – rather than being asked to sign-up to receive news, consumers were encouraged to join the Patak’s Curry Club.
Once registered, members could then gain access to exclusive recipes and drinks tips from Anjali, Dhruv and Susie. Where there was once one-way recipes and product information, Anjali Pathak now sits at the forefront of website as the face of Patak’s, and consumers are encouraged to engage with her through her blog, as well as send her cooking questions and submit their own recipe ideas to her.
On Facebook, members of the Patak’s Curry Club are then encouraged to share and discuss dishes, tips and ideas with each other. The panel still has a presence though, with Dhruv and Susie providing regular blogs, and Anjali running a competition for Facebook members to win a Curry Evening hosted with her. Twitter provides a vital gateway to the blogosphere, with a strong network of food bloggers, supper clubbers and chefs making up the Patak’s Curry Club Twitter network. You Tube shows a wealth of cooking videos from Anjali, plus video recipes from club members too.
However, the club doesn’t only exist in the online world. The panel host regular blogger events and taste sessions that encourage consumers to get creative with Indian flavours beyond curry – from Indian Roast Lamb to Coconut Stuffed Guinea Fowl – generating further content and ideas for members in the online world too.
Results
Registrations on www.pataks.co.uk increased by 40% in the first three months that the Patak’s Curry Club was launched, and time on site increased from 2.4minutes to 6.1minutes.
The first Patak’s Curry Club email saw an Open Rate of 51%, with click through from opens at 71%.
Facebook sign-ups have increased by over 890% in the last month.
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