It's no secret that for us Italians, food is a serious matter. Very serious. Especially when it comes to recipes attributed to our country.
That's why, when a video recipe from France explained how to prepare carbonara without following any of the basic rules used in Italy, a scandal erupted. This scandal directly involved Barilla, as a pack of Farfalle Barilla was prominently featured in the video, creating an association in people's minds between that (terrible) recipe and the brand.
The #CARBONARAGATE demanded an immediate response from Barilla. Within a few hours, after activating a monitoring activity to better understand the crisis's critical comments and volume, we created a video recipe showing how real carbonara is made.
Barilla's response, relayed through its social channels and amplified by The Huffington Post, achieved the desired effect, repositioning the brand as a promoter of Italian authenticity and good cuisine.
With over 2.5 million views, a reach of nearly 5.5 million people, and over 60k reactions on Facebook alone, Google searches related to carbonara preparation tripled in France, and views of the recipe on the Accademia Barilla website increased by 1300%.