MEGA Cash&Carry is one of the largest food distributors in Angola with a significant market share, enabling it to supply more than 5,000 points of sale through its distribution centers.

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In 2012 MEGA decided to invest 5 million USD to create a network of mini-markets called Bem Me Quer, which today has nearly 115 stores in Luanda and Benguela, considerably increasing its market share.

Meanwhile, aware of the challenges facing the national distribution market in terms of the impact of falling purchasing power and increased competition, with new distribution units created over the last 10 years, they felt they had to improve their competitiveness by influencing the purchasing decision through mechanisms other than price.

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Insight

From the very first contacts with MEGA in 2018, we realized that if the strategic objective was to diversify the mechanisms to motivate purchasing, other than price, it would be essential to intensify the relationship with the public entities that have an impact on the business and demonstrate the economic and social impact, from the point of view of the direct and indirect jobs it creates and its management capacity in terms of food distribution.

On the other hand, companies like MEGA have traditionally communicated through advertisements to buy and if MEGA wanted to distinguish itself from its competitors, it would have to change the way it communicates with consumers, regulators, among other stakeholders, with actions capable of stimulating a more positive attitude towards MEGA, also helping to generate good will on the part of the media, opinion formers and civil society, in order to facilitate the fair representation of MEGA in terms of its positive impact on the lives of Angolans.

From the point of view of constructing the discourse, we were sure that we should align it with the political discourse on the need to create jobs and diversify the Angolan economy. With regard to the specific context of the national media, it was already clear that many face logistical and structural difficulties in developing entertainment content. That's why we decided to present the stages of the competition as an opportunity for the media to use the content for their regular programming.

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Challenge

When we were invited by MEGA in 2019 to develop a PR campaign proposal to give visibility to a MEGA Young Chef competition, we realized how the strategic approach suggested during the first contacts inspired the creation of the competition, an idea that strings together several dimensions including preparation for self-employment, the contribution to identifying and recognizing talented young professionals, providing financial and contextual resources for starting a career, in general, the contribution to raising the quality of restaurant, hotel and café professionals.

The competition was to be held in partnership with EHR, the Hotel and Restaurant School, which provided the space for the tests and the contestants, who were all students at the school.

MEGA was given the responsibility of producing the competition, providing the products needed to make the dishes, as well as the prizes for all the stages. We were given the responsibility of ensuring maximum visibility for the competition in order to highlight MEGA as a partner promoting the development of an important sector of the Angolan economy.

A sector that needs support and encouragement, but also qualified and well-trained staff to guarantee world-class service. ‍

Strategy

In order to achieve the goal of generating goodwill among public opinion and the decision-makers who influence the business, we agreed to pursue a strategy based on two fundamental factors: Engaging the ministries and institutes that directly or indirectly oversee the tourism sector at key moments in the competition, such as the launch and the awards gala.

Creating a content distribution system capable of encouraging journalists to report on the need to develop the entire tourism sector. A partnership with TPA to make the stages of the competition a key program that was included in the programming schedule of TPA, the leading television audience channel according to Marktest.

These vectors were at the heart of the strategy employed which, at the end of the project, managed to add to the message of product quality and visionary management, a more institutional message and a direct contribution to the development of an important sector of the economy which is in great need of stimulus and incentives: tourism. 

Implementation phases
Tender launch/presentation event
Institutional meetings
Meetings with the media
Communication Stages
Awards Gala  

Impact
The results achieved from a media point of view have motivated MEGA's management to back the competition and turn it into an annual event, and TPA has already expressed its intention to continue the partnership to guarantee television broadcasts of the events. The project has helped to demonstrate the strength that relevant content has in terms of cementing relationships with the media. Content is also fundamental to connecting with the consumer public outside of direct sales.

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