Just Egg Amps Up Its Outreach at Major Summer Music Festivals

Marketing teams for Just Egg are prepped to hand out 100,000 mini breakfast sandwiches this weekend—working around the clock if need be—at the Bonnaroo music festival near Nashville, Tenn. Their goal with the activation—as performances from Stevie Nicks, Tool, Machine Gun Kelly, Roddy Ricch and other A-list artists serve as the backdrop—is to convert as many concert-goers as possible into new buyers. It’s sampling on steroids, which is a key piece of the plant-based brand’s marketing push for 2022. “Our whole mandate is eggs-in-mouth,” Adrian Santos, Just Egg’s field marketing director, told Adweek. “Research shows us that we gain fans and supporters once they try the product, so we’re going where there are tons of people and pushing out as many samples as we can.” This one goes to 11 Sampling isn’t novel for the fast-growing San Francisco-based startup. In fact, it has proven to be essential as Just Egg educates consumers about its tech-centric roots and its animal-free products. And it’s meant to address the first question that routinely comes from the uninitiated: “How does this stuff taste?” But this summer, the brand is amping up a typical Costco-style handout program in every way—pushing it to 11, in terms music fans should understand—with experiential marketing that targets young, influential demos at some of the biggest concerts in the country. Reflecting its environment and Just Egg's ongoing ad tagline, the activation is called "Really Good Eggs Tour." It’s a move that Santos calls “swinging for the fences” that has so far seen results that are exceeding industry benchmarks. “It’s standard for a brand to reach about 10% of an event crowd with samples,” said Santos, who has been in the business for 15 years, working with brands like Red Bull, Clif bar and Skullcandy. “We’ve been seeing anywhere from 33% to upward of 50%.” A healthy alternative Just Egg’s senior leadership has picked its spots carefully, focusing mainly on camper-friendly, multi-day gatherings like this weekend’s Beyond Wonderland in George, Wash. The brand also honed in on mission-driven events like Broccoli City in Washington D.C., a Black-owned social enterprise that celebrates Black culture, where organizer Brandon McEachern said Just Egg "fit perfectly within our narrative and what we are trying to bring to our community." Such large-scale events are often dominated by heavyweight sponsors in alcohol, soda and other indulgence goods, putting a health-conscious brand in a class nearly by itself. Just Egg sees that as a tactical advantage. At Bonnaroo, for instance, the brand will be shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Bacardi, Corona, Dunkin, Coca-Cola, M&Ms, Jack Daniels and Tito’s vodka. (Additional backers of the famous fest include Toyota, Hulu, Verizon and Tinder). And on the grab-and-go food scene, there are more corndogs and kabobs than alternative proteins. “We’re an outlier—we stick out in a great way,” said Santos, who noted that Just Egg wants to “own the breakfast, or breakfast-all-day, moment.” “In a sea of greasy, heavy food, we might be one of the only plant-based options.” Its products are also free, unlike the on-site vendors, though Just Egg did sell full sandwiches as part of its sponsorship of the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas recently. The company, partnering with promoter Insomniac, donated 100% of the proceeds to local charities. Owning breakfast, gathering data Just Egg has chosen to sponsor festivals that attract a diverse digital-native audience of Gen Z and millennials open to testing new products and sharing the experience on social media. To draw in that crowd, the brand built 30-square-foot, Instagram-worthy booths with an assist from experiential marketing firm The Bait Shoppe. The activations, complete with mobile kitchens and on-site chefs, are staffed by brand ambassadors handing out bite-sized sammies and premium swag. (The merchandise, intentionally co-branded with the event, is meant to be a keepsake rather than a throwaway item.) Lauren Lockliear, who was camping at the EDC festival recently, gravitated to the booth because it was “beautiful,” she said, and gave her an alternative to the “high-carb, low-protein” offerings at the venue. “I hadn’t tried it before, but I was familiar with the brand,” Lockliear told Adweek. “It’s definitely something I would consider adding into my diet.” Just Egg has used the events to collect data from its festival visitors, enlist its active influencers to help spread the word and run real-time contests to upgrade fans to VIP status. And the freebies aren’t just for the masses—Just Egg has similar outreach going on for the high-profile artist lineup, further building its entertainment industry ties. The activations will continue through July at the Levitate festival in Marshfield, Mass., and into September at Primavera Sound in Los Angeles. Just Egg Trolls Congressmen for Denying Climate Change and Failing to Protect the Planet

Experiential Marketing

Just Egg Amps Up Its Outreach at Major Summer Music Festivals

The plant-based brand shoulders into territory occupied by major booze and soda companies

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley