The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2019–2020
Wagamama sold bowls with cinema during the dining crunch; £5.21 ROI
While rivals cut prices, wagamama poured budget into cinema for 'From Bowl to Soul'; like-for-like sales grew 8.8% against a 1.7% market, at £5.21 per £1.
Wagamama
the move
During the casual dining crunch, most UK restaurant chains answered with discounts and smaller media budgets. Wagamama's 'From Bowl to Soul' campaign chose the opposite: brand over price, on the cinema screen.
Mullen Lowe, DCM and the7stars built the campaign around wagamama's soulful philosophy, using cinema's scale and sound to make the food itself the message. The work won UK Media Strategy & Idea at the 2020 Effie Awards.
While the market grew 1.7%, wagamama's like-for-like sales rose 8.8%, penetration increased 6 percentage points, and every £1 invested returned £5.21 in profit.
why it works
- Cinema is the one mass medium built for appetite: image, scale and sound that make food feel irresistible.
- Rivals' retreat to price left the emotional high ground open, so wagamama owned the premium positioning by default.
- A brand story rather than a deal gave the chain a margin story that discounts could not match.
what transfers
In a downturn, competitors cut to price; the brand that invests in the most immersive medium captures the emotional premium and the growth — a counter-cyclical bet the results vindicated.
what came after
The Effie recognition made the campaign a benchmark for cinema effectiveness in the UK, and wagamama kept investing in brand-led media through the downturn.
references
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