AN annual promotional roadshow launched in an innovative way this providing thousands of bedraggled EU Referendum voters a way to commiserate or celebrate.
Now on its eight-week journey the chefs and Brand Believers are promoting outdoor eating and the delights of entertaining at-home. To launch, Gastro Alfresco popped up in over 20 venues across two days to help voters through the stresses of both the Referendum and the results.
Visiting 75 Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s the Gastro Alfresco teams will be sampling half-a-million tasty treats, handing out £35,000 of prizes and saving shoppers potentially over a £100k with coupons from the campaigns sponsors. National, regional and online PR is large part of the mix and across three social media channels.
When asked, yesterday, the samplers who tried cheese, pesto, soft drinks and wine, supplied by some of this year’s sponsors, overwhelmingly gave their support for OUT, that is eating OUTside…. this summer, not on Brexit, with pretty much all citing the following gastronomic reasons:
It could make you live longer
It will make you more relaxed and life less stressful
It may be healthier and has lots of benefits for skin and energy levels
You could lose weight
Everything will taste better
Your friends will want to spend more time with you
.
Running from 30th June and reaching out to over 900,000 consumers, over half a million people will sample alfresco tidbits and treats on what is the country’s largest summer RoadShow tour.
Sponsors for 2016, include Official Wine – Blossom Hill, “Let it Blossom this Summer” Official Cheese – Davidstow, “Savour the Exceptional”; Official Soft Drink – Shloer, “Here’s to Good Times”; Official Pesto – Sacla’ “Perfect Pesto – Potted”; Official Coffee – Percol, “Celebrate Taste with Percol” and Official Healthy Snack – Whitworths Shots; “The Good-natured Little Snack”.
Over the years, Gastro Alfresco has been pivotal in building the market and changing consumer perceptions towards ‘at home’ summer lifestyles. The multi-brand, multi-discipline grocery promotional campaign has been key in growing the UK market for home based alfresco eating and entertaining from £150 million in 1997 to over £7 billion last year!
Gastro Alfresco maestro Brian George said:
“People who live around the Mediterranean generally live longer and are healthier and a big part of that is the healthy outdoor lifestyle they enjoy and the fresh summer food they consume.
“The Gastro Alfresco promotional roadshow has been designed to reach out to the British population at a time when we are very unsure about the future. Despite the Brexit vote, one thing at the moment we can take control of though is our lifestyle… Whilst we might not have as good weather all summer, we should grab what we can and still enjoy the Mediterranean lifestyle during the next few months. And of course, we all look better with a slight tan and eating fresh, healthy summer foods packed of vitamins and nutrients is certainly good for us!
You can find out more about Gastro Alfresco and summer at-home outdoor eating & entertaining, plus a full list of the RoadShow dates and venues on
www.gastro-alfresco.com or you can Follow us on Twitter @GastroAlfresco and Like us on Facebook /gastroalfresco
