Tate & Lyle Sugars uses social media to boost Taste and Smile site

Social media used to reach foodies and home bakers for Taste and Smile marketing campaign

Campaign name: Taste and Smile
Brand: Tate & Lyle Sugars
Audience: Foodies and home bakers
Duration: 26/03/2013 - on-going
Channels: Social media

Social Media Portal (SMP): Agency behind the campaign

Maynard Malone (MM): Maynard Malone and @maynardmalone

SMP: The name of the brand

MM: Tate & Lyle Sugars Taste and Smile

SMP: The official campaign name and why was it chosen?

MM: The campaign was based around the launch of a new website for Tate & Lyle Sugars to showcase its new Taste Experience range of brown sugars, so was called Tate & Lyle Sugars Taste and Smile.


SMP: What was the start and end of the campaign?

MM: 26/03/2013 - on-going

SMP: The target audiences of the campaign?

MM: The target audiences are home bakers and foodies; people who will use the website as a resource for the latest recipes and tips, encouraging them to experiment with recipes using the Taste Experience sugars.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about your campaign?

MM: The new site forms the brand?s online hub for customers. Designed responsively, users can access recipes and product information on the go on their mobiles. The journey between recipe content and product information is fluid, encouraging purchase through inspiration. Rich blog content features food trends from industry experts, providing a reason for foodies to return to the site time and time again.

SMP: What are the goals of the campaign and why is it different?

MM: The website aims to provide food lovers with a trusted resource for baking, giving tips and recipes for each of the sugars, making it a regular part of any bakers or foodies? routine.


SMP: What is the anticipated shelf life of the website and how to do you intend to keep it interesting and vibrant?

MM: The website will be updated with rich blog content that mirrors current food trends, as well as new recipes that are trending. There is also a host of regular recipes, including those for seasonal occasions which will be promoted throughout the site when relevant. Social media including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest will also seamlessly drive traffic through to relevant content pieces.

SMP: What are the channels, platforms and methods you?re using?

MM: The new website enhances the existing Tate & Lyle Sugars digital presence, which includes the hugely successful WeLoveBaking Facebook community, the recently launched Twitter @welovebaking and Pinterest communities. Tate & Lyle Sugars has all aspects of digital covered; Facebook provides a platform for competitions and regular recipe updates linked to the website and Twitter allows users to suggest recipes and keep up-to-date with the latest food trends.



SMP: What are you achieving?

MM: A large, active Facebook community, WeLoveBaking, has over 90,000 members. Traffic to the site has boomed at over 400% just one month after the launch, with users spending a significantly longer period of time on the site, halving the bounce back rate.

The website launch has been featured in a number of publications including The Drum where the campaign was featured in the creative round up section. 

SMP: How are you making the campaign social?

MM: The campaign has been made social by offering communities useful and engaging content, as well providing members with a support network for their cooking woes. The site is very much centred and inspired around the WeLoveBaking communities. It has been ensured that site is there to support those with a genuine passion for baking rather than the brand leading the communities and bombarding users with ?ads?. The website almost acts as a hub for the Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest communities, directing users to and from social media to explore the further possibilities with WeLoveBaking. Consumers are being encouraged to share recipes and thoughts with the social communities

SMP: Why have you elected to use Pinterest rather than Flickr or Instagram for the campaign?

MM: This year we have been working to extend the WeLoveBaking Facebook community to cover Pinterest. It makes sense as 70% of Pinterest users are female and 27% are aged between 25-34 ?our target audience.

Furthermore, Pinterest is the holy grail of visual inspiration with baking and food being a hot topic - images of food, recipes, baking and particularly cupcakes dominate Pinterest. What with Tate & Lyle Sugars? (particularly Taste Experience) range?s complexities in terms of flavour notes and geographical inspirations, Pinterest is the perfect channel to really bring the identities of the sugars to life and inspire users to click-through to the site and purchase the product for themselves.



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