The Creative Task
Shift perception for MSG from an unhealthy additive to a necessary ingredient to make food taste better amongst at home chefs. Since Ajinomoto is the world's largest producer of MSG has struggled to keep steady during COVID as restaurants were hit the hardest and people started cooking at home.
The Problem
There is an assumption that MSG is a harmful additive and it is driven by an outdated belief in Chinese Restaraunt Syndrome, a myth that is sadly driven by xenophobia.
Our Solution
To help pivot MSG from a restaraunt super power to a secret weapon for an at-home chef. We decided to romanticize our campaign geared towards at home chefs to make MSG more useful than misleading.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
We arrived at two partnerships, one with HelloFresh and secondly Hallmark.
Send a 'MSG' Box
Ajinomoto & HelloFresh will create meal prep boxes that at-home chefs will be able to custom design depending on what 'MSG' they're trying to send.
Each box will include; Ingredients + MSG packet Recipes MSG fact sheet ‘Send a MSG’ Hallmark card #MSGReceived Action card
Hallmark
'MSG' Received Cards
When plates are clear and bellies are full, a little momento in the form of a card is there to capture the MSG's at-home chefs sent through their cooking. Ajinomoto will partner with Hallmark to create a line of greeting cards based on MSG's people want to send through food.
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We even curated a cook book to help at home chefs Express themselves
Also we wanted to help dispell misconceptions about the use of MSG and show how it can be beneficial while cooking new and your favorite meals. So we sprinkled some fun facts about MSG throughout our cookbook.
Seeing is Believing
We were asked to create a potential :30sec. TV Spot & Print Ad.
To continue with conveying the best msg as possible we arived at the idea of imulating a student receiving a college rejection letter while being comforted by a home cooked meal.
Lastly I would like to thank Lauren Meadows and Mary Buzbee at The Workshop. This was a very fun brief to work on and I appreciate the support and opportunity.
