The “Veg” Vandals

UnCrave is a Licious sub-brand with an unexpected product focus for the meat focused brand - Plant Protein Based Meats.

Unlike other faux meat products, its target audience was solely the significant ‘flexitarian’ market in India - meat lovers who have restrictions during specific days or weeks due to religious, social, or health related reasons.

To tap into this market, UnCrave needed to launch during the festive season - when huge numbers of flexitarians would face dietary restrictions on meat that the product caters to. However, the challenge to the marketing team and agency was to come up with a way to launch the product and brand that grabbed maximum eyeballs with minimal budget.

Strategy -
UnCrave’s brand voice is that of the jester but with a challenger mentality - the brash, unapologetic little brother to Licious. Our underlying strategy is hinged on ‘Mischief Marketing’ and we wanted to use some mischief to launch the brand.

But how would this unapologetic brand launch in limited time but create enough buzz? The answer lay in a recent social post about vegans on the Licious page which got a lot of reach, and some flak. And UnCrave saw an opportunity for some mischief.

The Idea: Licious stores gets vandalized -
Licious properties get vandalized by an unknown seemingly veg group, leading to online buzz and conversation about the vandals, a ‘hunt’ for the culprits undertaken by Licious, and finally - a reveal that it was an inside job. By the brand’s annoying little brother.

Execution -
A storefront covered in ‘protest’ posters, standees vandalised. Licious delivery bags spray painted in bright, distinctive green, and the message was out: “Cluck You!” Needless to say, people noticed. And posted. A LOT.

Licious put out concerned posts and statements vowing to get to the bottom of the people responsible, and even posting CCTV footage of a shadowy masked figure who was caught in the act. In no time, social media started taking notice - from everyday netizens to city pages and influencers - all speculating about who might be responsible.

On the day of the launch, Licious announced that the vandals had been caught, leading its audience to the UnCrave social page, where the masterminds were finally revealed through video posts with misleading thumbnails.