How Knorr boosted brand power with its #ModtheVeg gaming campaign

Radishes with serious punching power and broccoli-based armour may sound like child’s play.

But for Knorr, these video game modifications have fuelled an award-winning marketing campaign that has delivered an increase of over 20% in brand association among gamers.

The primary aim of Knorr’s #ModtheVeg campaign was to capture the attention of a younger demographic, including Gen Z, who are critical to ensuring long-term success and growth for the brand.

“Although Knorr is very well established, in some markets we’re still building our presence with younger generations,” explains Nicky Neerscholten, Global Head of Digital and Masterbrand.

The growth potential of the gaming space

With recent research showing Gen Z audiences spend more time on video games than they do watching TV, the gaming space offers great possibilities for reaching younger consumers.

“In order for marketing to make an impact, we need to make sure our brands show up where consumers play,” says Nicky. “Gaming is a vital gateway to reaching them.”

To this end, Unilever has tripled its marketing investment in the gaming sector over the past three years, and Knorr’s #ModtheVeg campaign is a prime example of the results it can deliver.

Knorr’s mission to boost vegetables in gaming

In 2022, gamers noticed that vegetables were attributed fewer health points in some of the world’s most popular video games than meat alternatives – indicating that in the gaming world vegetables were seen to be less valuable than meat.

This provided Knorr with the perfect opportunity to join forces with high-level streamers to achieve their common goal of making vegetables more appealing.

Together, they promoted the initiative through a campaign film. Knorr also supported the gamers’ campaign by petitioning gaming studios like Epic Games, Activision Blizzard and Mojang Studios to give vegetables an in-game value boost.

However, the campaign really came to life when gamers started building veggie ‘mods’ – free updates that alter the game’s code, allowing players to experience the game in a different way.

For example, in one game, a mod altered the weather so that it rained giant destructive vegetables. And in another, a mod created a suit of high-value armour including a radish helmet, broccoli shoulder pads and carrot trousers.

Growing brand power

The campaign scored big for the brand online, clocking up 1.1 billion earned reach, 95 million impressions and 78 million completed views of the livestreams.

Over 10,000 people played the various mods, with 26,000 hours of #ModtheVeg streamer content viewed in just 48 hours.

By the end of the campaign, brand awareness had risen by double digits with over 1,500 press mentions.

#ModtheVeg also received notable industry recognition, winning gold in the Grand Prix and Most Original Campaign categories, and silver in the Youngsters category at the Content Marketing Awards. The campaign earned a bronze for social purpose at the Drum Awards and was shortlisted at the Eurobest Awards too.

Beyond the gaming world

For Nicky, perhaps the most significant win was the positive sentiment generated by the campaign.

“The campaign created a powerful connection with younger consumers who are typically less familiar with Knorr as a brand,” she explains, adding that the campaign has provided the perfect environment for the ongoing roll-out of the brand’s ready-to-heat range of mini-meals, including instant rice and noodle options.

“The younger, gamer generation prepares food differently,” she says. “They want fast, convenient and often all-in-one solutions that still deliver on taste and nutrition. Our mini-meals are the perfect match.”