Case Study
Turning Sustainability Into Opportunity
Gilmours, a 100% New Zealand owned and operated trusted Foodservice Wholesaler partnered with Versed to strategise, design, and deliver the “Helping Hospo” campaign. The project was an integrated B2B and B2C initiative aimed at stabilising supply chain costs to deliver value to Gilmours clients, stimulating consumer engagement, and reinforcing Gilmours’ position as a strategic FMCG and hospitality partner. With the hospitality sector facing cost pressures and declining foot traffic, the campaign brought together suppliers, venues, and consumers to drive win-win outcomes through price freezes, venue promotions, and community competitions.
Expertise
- Marketing Strategy
- Partner Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Campaign Development
New Zealand’s hospitality sector was grappling with compounding challenges: rising input costs, reduced consumer spending, and an uncertain market. Gilmours, as a wholesale leader in foodservice, recognised a responsibility – and an opportunity – to support their hospitality customers in a meaningful way. The challenge was twofold:
- Business Relief – Enable venues to forecast menus and cashflow through price certainty on core FMCG lines.
- Consumer Stimulation – Drive traffic into venues and amplify visibility using a scalable campaign that delivered direct-to-venue impact with the opportunity for ongoing momentum in the venues via social media.
B2B campaign: ‘Helping Hospo’
- Locked in FMCG pricing for key hospitality products over a 3-month period
- Designed bundle offers and incentives for B2B customers
- Supported uptake with instore and sales team incentives
- Deployed pre-developed collateral for the Gilmours stores, including custom designs for point-of-sale materials, entrance signage, bus backs, and a range of in-store signage.
- Leveraged existing channels utilised by Gilmours such as through EDM’s and paid radio advertising.
B2C campaign: ‘Spring Into Your Local’
- Created a social media-based competition to giveaway over $10,000 in prizes, to drive foot traffic and venue visibility
- Developed ready-to-use social content, window stickers, and service scripts for venues to quickly adopt and be involved
- Collaborated with local influencers to create authentic, community-focused content that resonated with North Island audiences and encouraged venue visitation.
- Developed press releases and engaged media partners to secure coverage and generate buzz across digital, print, and broadcast platforms, extending campaign visibility beyond retail environments.
- Worked closely with suppliers such as the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and Visa Wellington On a Plate to activate their channels and networks, leveraging their reach and investment to amplify key campaign messages across the region.
- Gave consumers the chance to win major lifestyle prizes easily by simply supporting their local venues.
Content Creation & Activation
Created and distributed complete content packs to streamline execution across participating venues – included ready-to-go collateral, from table pop-ups to window stickers. Amplified messaging through launch events, earned media, and strategic supplier partnerships.
Cross–Organisational Engagement
Collaborated with over 20 FMCG suppliers, seven Gilmours stores, Foodstuffs North Island, and the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and other industry bodies such as VWOAP to ensure strong cross–channel alignment and campaign credibility.
Gilmours’ national and branch–level marketing and sales teams, Foodstuffs North Island, hospitality venues across the North Island, and strategic partners including Coca–Cola Europacific, Red Bull, DB, TORK, and the Restaurant Association of New Zealand.
Increased Venue Engagement
- 260+ patron-generated posts and 177 venue-generated posts
- Over 3,100 eligible campaign entries (comments, tags, and social shares)
- Influencer-led earned media and community content across North Island
Sales Enablement & Visibility
- Over 800 sales calls logged during the campaign period
- B2B customers reported improved volume forecasts and customer engagement
- Significant increase in customers buying from Gilmours during the campaign
- Significant increase in repeat purchasing customers year-on-year
Public & Industry Recognition
As well as receiving an official endorsement from the Restaurant Association of New Zealand as critical sector partner support, Versed provided PR for the campaign and secured media coverage across several publications, as outlined below.
- How Gilmours is Helping Hospo
- ‘Gilmours Helping Hospo’ campaign locks in pricing – and a $10,000 prize pool
- Strengthening the Sector: Gilmours Launches Campaign to Boost NZ Hospitality Businesses
- Gilmours supports local hospo industry with dual campaign
- Gilmours and RMH Consulting boost hospitality with winning initiatives
- Gilmours freezes prices of essential products to help struggling hospitality businesses
- Helping Hospitality Launch
- Gilmours locks in pricing with ‘Helping Hospo’ campaign
“The Versed team were a fantastic partner to work with for our Helping Hospo campaign. Our business is complex with a lot of moving parts, but Rach and Dan took the time to truly understand the nuances of how we operate, which meant they delivered what we needed, when we needed it. Their extensive campaign experience shone through, bringing fresh thinking and innovative ideas to the table. We also really valued their personal connection to the Co-op and the FMCG industry – it brought genuine passion and purpose to their work. Working alongside the Versed team was a seamless experience, and we appreciated how responsive, reliable and collaborative Rach and Dan were – we couldn’t recommend them more highly.”
