Mammoth Meatball - 2023’s top story mainstreams cultured meat
A sustainable food stunt sparking a global debate on the Future of food
We launched a world first: meat made from extinct animal DNA in the form of a meatball. We worked with agency Wunderman Thompson and food tech pioneers, Vow, to create an unmissable stunt and media moment with a serious aim: to mainstream the concept of cultured meat and get the world talking about the future of food production
Using only the power of earned PR and a monster-sized meatball made from the DNA of a woolly mammoth, we helped cultured meat company Vow break into the mainstream media - going from an unknown start-up to Wall Street Journal cover star.
Working with the unknown and zero budget: a massive mission
We worked on this campaign from the early days of its conception, since a key component of the project was the communication itself, to spark conversations around cultured meat.
Up front, we spent time researching and strategically planning, to ensure we were crafting relevant and meaningful communications for the science, lifestyle, design, news, youth, food and environmentalism sectors we identified.
Our main challenge was that most people had never heard of cultured meat - and Vow was a relatively unknown start-up. Added to this, there is only one country that has legally approved cultured meat for commercial sale - Singapore - meaning we were up against legislation, entrenched eating patterns, and the massively powerful global meat lobby.
Meat production and mass extinction: a big challenge
With one million species at threat of extinction due to climate change and 14.5% of all human-generated greenhouse gas emissions attributable to meat production, it’s clear that radical alternatives to meat production are urgently needed.
One solution? Cultured meat, aka meat made from the cells of animals, using innovative molecular technology. It reduces environmental impact, is harm-free and can be preferable in taste and nutritional value.
Cultured meat pioneers, Vow wanted to challenge the public and the meat industry to think differently about how we produce and consume food, highlighting cultured meat as a viable alternative to traditional agriculture.
So, working with Wunderman Thompson, Vow and a team of international experts, we created an unmissable stunt with a deadly serious message at its heart.
An instantly recognizable dish - the meatball - but made from the DNA of an extinct woolly mammoth. And on a massive scale for maximum impact.
A short documentary on Mammoth Meatball, directed by the brilliant Juliette Stevens of WeFilm.
Watch the film here
A big reveal that broke the internet
We conceived, curated and coordinated the ‘big reveal’ press launch moment of the physical meatball at Amsterdam’s leading Science Museum, NEMO.
The morning of the event was kicked off with an exclusive with The Guardian and a live interview on Good Morning Britain, a hugely popular British morning show. This was a planned strategic move to access both a lifestyle mainstream audience alongside a respected journalism platform simultaneously. To both initiate the conversation with clear facts, whilst also setting social media alight with attention-grabbing images and controversial sound bites to build hype and momentum.
At the launch later that day, Bas Korsten, Global CCO at Wunderman Thompson and the founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Vow, alongside key food and science experts, unveiled the meatball to the world, in front of cameras and journalists from major news channels, including Reuters and AP.
From there, a global PR team got the meatball rolling - becoming an overnight sensation that entered pop culture and made Vow a household name.
On 27th March, cultured meat was a niche topic; 48 hours later, half the world was debating its potential for future food production. In the weeks since launching the mammoth meatball, more people have seen, thought about and discussed cultured meat than ever before.
Using only the power of PR, we got 13 billion impressions in a matter of days. The campaign was covered by 12,500 written articles globally with a 98.4% positive or neutral sentiment to them. Vow was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, opened the Steven Colbert Late Show and got a 4’ coverage on John Leguiziamo’s Daily Show. Altogether, accounting for an advertising value of $120,000.000.
The world got to know cultured meat and changed its negative associations into anticipation of what the future might taste like - with research showing a 95.7% increase in willingness to try cultured meat.
