This week, we’re *peeling* the lid on our iconic influencer collab with itsu. We’re spilling the noodle pot tea, revealing the strategy, and sharing results that speak for themselves.
In Q4 itsu had a big project on their hands: launch their new and improved noodle pots, created in collaboration with celebrity chef Monica Galetti. This partnership marked a pivotal moment for the brand: a chance to redefine the noodle pot category not as a cheap, unhealthy convenience food, but as a premium, nutritious, and genuinely beautiful snack.
At Charlie Oscar, we knew a campaign with this much oomph deserves more than simply putting the product into the hands of a few foodie influencers and hoping for the best.
It requires intention. We knew we had to build a strategic, full-funnel influencer campaign that would deliver real impact.
We needed to tell the noodle pot story through the lens of itsu’s diverse audience – from young students and fitness lovers to millennial corporate workers to adventurous food explorers – and share how itsu’s lovingly crafted noodle pots fit into their unique worlds.
So we built a casting strategy that did exactly that. Our lineup featured four creators who each proudly embody one of these audience worlds, handpicked for the cultural capital.
Together, we produced an editorial-quality content series – not your usual UGC – with each creator, and our hero foodie creator, Nguyen Yeats-Brown (@itsgnochgnoch), starred directly alongside Monica.
The result?
Seven hero campaign videos that, when adapted for social formats and paid social, generated countless content variants. Ranging from light-hearted blind-folded taste testing games and niche-specific storytelling to intimate quick-fire kitchen interviews with Monica. The content elevated the humble noodle pot, placing it firmly within premium environments.
In addition to the campaign content, each influencer created their own organic assets, ensuring the story continued seamlessly across their personal platforms.
To maximise ROI, we ensured the content lived beyond organic social, and amplified each asset through paid channels (social and display ads placed within key publications), and the results were mega.
The campaign’s VTR (view-through rate) outperformed TikTok’s benchmark by 59% and we also drove brand intent uplifts – a metric that rarely sees movement in paid campaigns on the platform.
What’s next?
Stay tuned, because this is only the beginning.
Fancy delving in to the brief even more? Watch the video here on on how we helped the UK fall in love with itsu’s noodle pot.
