CASE STUDY CAMPAIGN

Deutsche Bahn is one of the largest transport companies worldwide and one of the top ten largest German companies.

Campaign

In the three consecutive years 2008, 2009 and 2010, Gourmet Connection planned Deutsche Bahn’s annual culinary campaigns.

In 2017/18, Gourmet Connection was once again responsible for the annual culinary campaign in which various food bloggers developed special dishes for on-board catering.

Goal

• Increase in awareness among consumers for Deutsche Bahn’s on-bord catering 
• Increase in sales in the realm of on-bord catering
• Expansion of Deutsche Bahn’s competence in the culinary field

Implementation

• Idea development for individual campaigns
• Acquisition of the protagonists for all activities
• Acquisition of the partners and sponsors 
• Planning and implementation of regular press events
• Classic press work

The individual campaigns

2008 Experience Europe, enjoy the stars

• • In a monthly rotation, ten European chefs such as Eric Fréchon*** from France, Lea Linster* from Luxembourg and Mario Ridder** from the Netherlands present specialties from their regions. 
• Background idea: creation of awareness that Deutsche Bahn is an attractive means of transportation for trips abroad.

2009 Enjoying naturally

• In a monthly rotation, ten regional chefs from different German states such as Dirk Luther** from Schleswig-Holstein, André Großfeld* from Hessen and Stefan Neugebauer* from Rheinland-Pfalz present dishes certified organic.
• Background idea: increase trust in the quality of on-board catering.

2010 TV chefs serve up

• In a monthly rotation, eleven TV chefs such as Tim Mälzer, Cornelia Poletto* and Christian Rach* present three special signature dishes. 50 cents of the proceeds of every dish sold are donated to “Spitzenköche für Afrika”, a campaign initiated by the Karlheinz Böhm foundation Menschen für Menschen under the patronage of Eckart and Véronique Witzigmann.
• Background idea: the cooperation with well-known TV chefs brings yet another increase of awareness, while the charity aspect helps to position the campaign in the media and to get the chefs to participate.

2017/18 More than just food. Cooked. Blogged. Liked. 

• Food bloggers Dorothée Beil (Bushcooks Kitchen), Sascha and Torsten Wett (Die Jungs kochen und backen), Sarah Kaufmann (Vegan Guerilla), Petra Hola-Schneider (Hol(l)a die Kochfee), Sascha Suer (Lecker muss es sein) and Oliver Wagner (Kochfreunde) develop special dishes for Deutsche Bahn’s on-bord catering. 
• The blogger dishes change in a two-monthly rhythm. 
• The campaign is publicized in the classic media, online and via Deutsche Bahn’s channels (microsite, DB Mobil magazine etc.)
• Background idea: modernization of Deutsche Bahn’s culinary image and approach of new target groups