Source: Aldi
Will Aldi’s ‘Charcuterie Board’ have a big influence on its food sales?
Aldi has partnered with six food bloggers and influencers to create its first-ever “Charcuterie Board of Directors” to inspire shoppers this holiday season to develop their own meat and cheese platter.
Each board member received a special designation based on the talents they bring to guiding innovative combinations on charcuterie boards, a hot trend in recent years. The board includes:
- Sarah Crawford, the Sweet Talker, a Boston-based founder of the Broma Bakery baking blog;
- Gaby Dalkin, the Charcuterie Chef, an Los Angeles-based chef and food/lifestyle writer known for her What’s Gaby Cooking blog dedicated to California-inspired recipes;
- Rosalynn Daniels, the Family Foodie, an Atlanta-based Black lifestyle blogger and recipe developer;
- Kasim Hardaway, the Recipe Realist, a culinary photographer and one of Kansas City’s most influential online food personalities;
- Marissa Mullen, the Spread Stylista, a Brooklyn-based creator of the popular Instagram account, Cheese by Numbers;
- Sarah Tracey, the Wine Whisperer, a New York City-based sommelier and author of The Lush Life blog;
- Kim Brazington, the Cheese Queen, Aldi’s buying director for cheese in the U.S.
The ambassadors will offer board styling guidance online through stop-motion videos, virtual demonstrations and an array of build-by-number templates. In stores, Aldi will display a “Charcuterie Board Must-Have” shopping guide and tags on cured meats, cheeses and add-on accoutrements.
Whole Foods and Kroger have also tapped influential bloggers for campaigns, but most grocers seem to focus on driving social engagement with regular shoppers. In September, Albertsons said it was designating 20 of its own employees as ambassadors who will encourage discovery with ingredients and prompt customers to shop for food items via Pinterest.
Fashion and beauty bloggers are much more heavily recruited for affiliate marketing and livestream shopping campaigns. Walmart, Nordstrom and Target have collaborated with social media stars to create collections.
Inmar’s 2021 Social Commerce survey of 1,000 adults taken in April found that 35.2 percent of respondents follow influencers on social media channels for recipe inspiration, fairly close to the 40.6 percent that follow influencers for fashion/style/beauty inspiration.
- Aldi Assembles ‘Charcuterie Board of Directors’ to Help Shoppers Create Dazzling and Delicious #ALLAldi Displays – Aldi
- Charcuterie Board of Directors – Aldi
- Aldi Launches Expert Charcuterie Board – Winsight Grocery Business
- How Whole Foods & Aldi Celebrated Easter With Influencers – MediaKix
- Albertsons, Pinterest partnership aims to inspire meal shopping – Supermarket News
- Inmar Intelligence Survey Reveals New Data On Social Media Usage, Current Channel Preferences, and Predictions for Next Favorite Platforms – Inmar
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do grocers have as big an opportunity to work with online influencers as retailers and brands in fashion and beauty categories? What do you think of Aldi’s “Charcuterie Board of Directors” campaign?
Poll
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Katie Thomas
Lead, Kearney Consumer Institute
Katie Thomas
Lead, Kearney Consumer Institute
This is good fun, but it also conveys an important message: that Aldi has great food and quality and isn’t just about low prices. That is a critical narrative to get across as some still think of Aldi as cheap and cheerful. The reality is that Aldi has won many awards for its food and has put a lot of effort into elevating its store experience with new U.S. shops often having a better ambience than many older, traditional U.S. supermarkets. What this adds up to is great value for money, and Aldi is determined to drive this message home.
Aldi’s approach here is the right way to engage with influencers and via social – it’s topical and fun, while also providing an opportunity to educate consumers who may be unsure about how to pull together a charcuterie board. It’s beneficial sometimes to have a goal to simply interact with or draw in consumers, rather than specific objectives around current shoppers or ROI.
Giving customers visual ideas on how to use your products in new and creative ways seems like a win for both sides. Do you normally think of Aldi for interesting food preparations or just cheap groceries? Aldi has flown under the radar for a long time, but personally I’ve witnessed a whole new breed of shopper discovering them during the pandemic.
I am with Neil on this. Moving their presence into specialty services and product arrangements will elevate their presence in customers’ minds. Great move in an industry that is growing tentacles into brave new worlds.
How many influencers does it take to style a charcuterie board? In this case seven, but that’s what makes it fun. All the different points of view will help consumers keep their charcuterie designs and assortments fresh.
Partnering with food influencers is an untapped opportunity for food retailers. Sharing ideas beyond recipes, like how our food is presented to our families and guests, is a big deal.
I heartily endorse this program! I think influencer marketing – be it social media influencers, customers or associates – is an area ripe with opportunity for grocery. One quick look at all the food influencers on YouTube is all we need to understand how popular food content is with consumers (for a fun and compelling example, check out the 85-year old singing Italian grandmother cooking simple food for the 871,000 subscribers to her Buon-A-Petitti channel). Grocers have a legitimate opportunity to tap into this culture with consistent, localized and curated content. The Charcuterie Board of Directors is a fascinating (and clever) example of exactly this. I will be watching this program closely to see how people respond.
I love Grandma Gina!
Fun. Experiential. Differentiating. Plus a reach out to a whole lot of new potential customers through their work with influencers. We’ve all missed socializing so, now that we’re all getting together again, Aldi hits the mark by engaging their audience with what they need now — a better charcuterie board!
Yes, influencers represent the new normal of social media. Social media influencers are a key component of influencer marketing, which is a powerful tool for a marketer because it presents an opportunity for brands to leverage the power of word-of-mouth to thousands of social media followers. Social media influencers play three critical roles: connecting, informing, and opinion sharing. Research shows that consumers are more responsive to product recommendations by influencers — who have been paid by the company for the endorsement or product placement — than regular advertising.
An example of the impact on consumer packaged goods: VPX (Bang Energy drinks) CEO Jack Owoc boasted on Instagram in January 2020 that VPX “has partnered with over 800 social media creators” on platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch. According to Mr. Owoc, these influencers together mean VPX is “reaching over 500 million friends, fans, and followers worldwide every day.”
Based on the above, I see the Aldi campaign as a pioneer for food retailers.
Aldi is smart to launch this program, taking itself upmarket by associating with influencers at a time when consumers are looking for food and entertaining inspiration.
I love this idea. Charcuterie boards at Aldi are nothing new. Rebranding them with influencers in local markets from the foodie world is a great idea. This will give Aldi’s customers an even more interesting set of offers in their deli case and I suspect it will attract some new customers to Aldi who maybe never thought of them as a credible resource for specialized foods. I see a win here.