Hasta La Motion!

Knorr, the US-German food brand, is attracting viral attention with “Love At First Taste”, a filmed experiment in which strangers matched only by flavour meet for a surprisingly intimate first date. To make the dates even more intense, when the contestants meet for dinner they are told that they can only eat by feeding each other. The resulting interactions were filmed by director Tatia Pilieva and cinematographer Andre Lascaris, the team behind Wren’s viral sensation ‘First Kiss’ and Showtime promo “Undress Me“. Behind the Knorr Love at First Taste film is the online Knorr Flavour Quiz, providing profiles for deep sea dreamer, earthy idealist, gracious grazer, meaty warrior, melty indulger, mustard maverick, roasted romantic, salty adventurer, spicy rebel, sweet seeker, or tangy dynamo.

Knorr Love at First Taste Thinking

Age, sex, location… flavour? New research from Knorr reveals flavour compatibility is one of the most important factors when it comes to finding lasting love. Flavour is at the heart of everything Knorr does, and the brand is passionate about inspiring a new generation of millennial foodies, weaned on pop-up restaurants, supper clubs, superstar chefs and bloggers-turned-cookery-writers. How? By creating new compelling, shareable content that is rooted in people’s personal experiences of flavour and food.

To inform the campaign, Knorr asked 12,000 people in 12 countries what flavour means to them, to get a genuine understanding of the crucial role it plays in everyday life. One of the key findings of Knorr’s research was that three in four people (over 78% in fact) are more likely to be attracted to someone who enjoys the same flavours. To test this theory, Knorr conducted a social experiment with a twist – pairing complete strangers on a surprisingly intimate first date. The couples were matched only by their love of the same flavours, discovered using the Knorr Flavour Profiler, to see if a shared passion for certain flavours would create chemistry between the couples.

This campaign is part of a wider drive to develop a more contemporary approach to communicate with Knorr’s consumers and sees the launch of a new brand evolution for Unilever’s largest brand. Knorr aims to grow the brand by targeting this new generation of food-obsessives who see social media as the place to share recipes, pick up tips from bloggers and vloggers, upload ‘#foodporn’ dishes onto Instagram and share their foodie discoveries.

Ukonwa Ojo, Senior Global Director for Knorr, says: “Knorr is taking a lead in this exciting moment, where food culture really has become pop culture, where chefs are the new celebrities and foodie bloggers can pull in millions of followers. Flavour is at the heart of everything we do at Knorr and we are delighted we share our passion with so many around the world. Our provocation to consider flavour in the quest to connect with others is a fun way to put its importance to the ultimate test.”

Knorr Love at First Taste Credits

The Knorr Love at First Taste campaign was developed at MullenLowe US, Los Angeles, by chief creative officer Mark Wenneker, executive creative director Margaret Keene, global creative director Tom Hudson, senior art director Bryan Carroll, senior copywriter Aroon Mukhey, managing partner and strategy Rebecca Morgan, global business director Richard Ellis, global account manager Izzy Falcon, agency producer Nicholas Kurs, production assistant Camille Hanish-Oakes and strategist Jenny Barthe.

Media was handled at PHD and Mindshare. PR was handled at Edelman.

Filming was shot by director Tatia Pilieva via Pulse Films with director of photography Andre Lascaris, executive producer Casey Engelhardt, producer Neil Andrews, production designer Mark Connell, casting director Charnel Cochrane, editor Garret Price.

Post production was done at Framestore by colourist Beau Leon, producer Laura Penta, production assistant Megan De Wolf, Flame artists Tim Osborne and Steph Mills.

Audio post-production was by Nathan Dubin at Margarita Mix. Music was by Joel P West.