How Ocado made a magical partnership with Disney

Challenge

When online supermarket Ocado partnered with Disney to develop a new meal bundle offering for kids, they wanted to nail the opportunity. 

We’d never done a partnership with a company the size of Disney before. It was a very important project for the business, so we wanted to make sure we got things right. That meant finding the correct name, and the most-appealing characters and food combinations.

Ben Franks, Research Executive, Ocado Retail

Solution

Ocado designed three surveys targeting UK parents with children aged 5-13. The first was a proposition test to see which name and branding was most appealing, while a second study focused on what Disney films to use, and what types of food and food combinations. The third survey looked at what price point the new meal bundles should be sold at.

‘Once Upon a Mealtime’ was the name that came out top so we ended up going with that one. We had expected this to be the most popular in the research team, but there had been a bit more contention between the marketing people, so it was good to have that data!

The pricing study, meanwhile, identified an ideal price range for the ‘Once Upon a Mealtime’ bundles to be sold at. With value for money being one of Ocado’s pillars, it was important to launch at an affordable price.

From our other tracking studies, we know we are usually perceived as quite expensive. Value for money is one of our key KPIs that we’re focusing on, so the research helped us solidify our thinking in that space.