Farmers continue to face myriad existential challenges: climate change, regulation, rising costs and slimmer margins. And family farms are being driven out of business: According to 2022 Canadian census figures, the number of farms has fallen by 44% in the last 45 years, from 338,552 in 1976 to 189,874 farms in 2021.
Canada-based McCain Foods is doing its part to “reimagine” how its partners grow, harvest and sustain the brand’s staple product: potatoes. Perhaps surprisingly, this includes building a sustainable and successful farming experience in a virtual world.
“We’re trying to transform the farming community,” said Christine Kalvenes, svp for global marketing at privately held McCain Foods. “We’re trying to transform the environment. It is literally about driving regenerative farming as a mechanism for the survival of farming overall.”
It’s about paying it forward. [Gen Z] are a group that is going to understand how to pick up the baton and move from here.
Christine Kalvenes, svp for global marketing, McCain
The initiative is part of family-owned McCain’s commitment to implement regenerative agricultural practices across its crops by 2030 by improving farmer resilience, yield and quality, while reducing synthetic inputs.
The 65-year-old brand, known primarily for its frozen foods, must become “more forward-thinking,” Kalvenes said. Her goal is to communicate the essential nature of regenerative farming to a younger audience. The brand is developing a virtual experience based on real-life operational farms through Roblox’s Livetopia.
“It’s about paying it forward,” Kalvenes said. “[Gen Z] are a group that is going to understand how to pick up the baton and move from here. We’re talking about power together. That’s the right audience, that’s the right community.”
The attraction of gaming
According to research from Newzoo, Gen Z consumers spend 14.9 hours each week engaging with games and virtual worlds, while 53% spend more than half of their time engaging with game IP in ways other than playing.
Meanwhile, gaming content has also grown in popularity across non-gaming media platforms, driving interest in testing opportunities within virtual worlds.
Kalvenes, who worked with agency Gravity Road, began the project with in-person visits to partner farms. From there, designers began building the Farms of the Future virtual world, which allows players to grow potatoes using regenerative farming methods, integrating livestock through rotational grazing and encouraging biodiversity.
A real-life element was then introduced as a crucial component of the campaign. Pop-up NFT-themed restaurants allowed players to claim Regen Fries. Since we first reported on this in October, more than 10,000 servings of fries have been handed out across Los Angeles, Toronto and London while more than 1,000 pieces of merchandise has been distributed. The bucket hat is proving to be the most popular.
Winners were also given a digital token that would show them to be one of the first to try the Regen Fries. Another element of the campaign, #saveoursoil, has amassed more than 12.7 million views on TikTok.
“We continue to refine, but the return on investment is pretty high,” she said of the response. “The moment that you started intersecting real with social with virtual, the amplification effects were amazing.”
Kalvenes admits to being surprised that having initially expected the levels of activity to drop off after December, they are now planning the next stages after seeing 9 million visitors in the first six weeks, a figure that has now risen past 17 million.
Evolving McCain’s positioning
Since joining McCain from SC Johnson in 2021, Kalvenes has been focused on the idea of togetherness. Previous brand positioning was about “families around the table.” Now, it’s about “a sense of belonging,” she explained.
In farming, it’s about showing people how you can drive resilience to climate change, and what that can look like.
Christine Kalvenes, svp for global marketing, McCain
While the idea of creating a farming game was an early one, she was undeterred when the agency team pointed out that there are already thousands of farming games in existence.
Kalvenes believes success is about communicating the right messaging, at the right moment, in the right medium. That is a mix of “funnier, quirkier” messages that are not always about the heritage of the brand.
Marketing measurement
While Kalvenes is based in Chicago, marketing for McCain sits across “a variety of regions and countries.” In order to assess campaign effectiveness they use “standardized and traditional methods,” including a mix of modeling for each region and country to discover the most effective platforms and methods.
“I take an approach where roughly about 70% of the spend goes against tried and true, where you can produce the ROI. Roughly 20% of the spend goes against innovative spaces, things that are a little bit of a stretch. And then 10% is test and learn,” she explained, noting the virtual experience is the latter. The marketing team also uses brand equity and brand penetration tracking tools.
Amid a global economic slowdown combined with high inflation, McCain is trying to financially support its farming partners. It is working with credit unions such as Crédit Agricole in France and Farm Credit Canada to help farmers not only stay in business, but adopt regenerative processes.
The company has also partnered with McDonald’s Canada to launch the $1 million Future of Potato Farming Fund.
The brand’s purpose around togetherness will also continue to evolve, she added, with messaging already begun in the U.K. and an international campaign currently being developed in Canada.
“We found a way that was honest and meaningful to stand out,” said Kalvenes. “And in farming, it’s about showing people how you can drive resilience to climate change, and what that can look like.”
