The Impossible, Possible

The goal of Impossible Foods is nothing less than saving the planet. Pound for pound, Impossible Burger takes 96% less land, 87% less water, and 89% fewer greenhouse gas emissions to produce. One day, they hope to totally replace animals as a source of food.

A noble goal! But it will only happen if they can make a plant-based product that tastes and feels and cooks the same as meat. Have they? In fact, yes. And we know that because we got a sneak peek at how Impossible Burger can be used in our test kitchen.

Our client, Gelson’s Markets, was the first retail outlet in the nation to sell Impossible Burger to the public. Prior to that, you could only get it at a restaurant or fast food location. When Impossible was deciding on its consumer roll-out strategy, they partnered with Gelson’s as their first-in-the-nation retailer because of the southern California grocery chain's commitment to offering customers innovative and high-quality products, along with a best-in-class in-store experience.

To help build interest in the brand with their customers, Gelson’s worked with Ingredient to prepare for the launch. Ingredient’s culinary content director Neil Bertucci and team created three recipes: a Bolognese sauce, a meatball sub, and lasagna, as well as grilling up Impossible Burger burgers with the burger sauce we previously created for Gelson’s.

“I was impressed with its ability to sear — in some cases even better than beef. That’s when the real flavor comes out. The texture is very much the same as ground beef,” Bertucci said. “Over the years, I’ve tried using other meat substitutes, but they never captured the texture and flavor that beef has. If you cook Impossible Burger with a hard sear, 9 out of 10 people would not know that it’s not meat.”

With recipes in hand, Ingredient set to work creating and implementing a content strategy for Gelson’s launch. By creating inspirational content — video and photos paired with evocative writing — delivered across digital and social marketing channels, we helped Gelson’s and Impossible realize phenomenal success.

According to the Valdosta Daily Times, Impossible Burger was the #1 SKU in Gelson’s Markets for the first two weeks of its launch.

“I think it was great that Gelson’s entrusted us to develop recipes in support of the launch,” director of content strategy Emily Tritabaugh said. “Working in partnership with our clients to help them achieve their marketing goals is so satisfying.”

It’s not every day we get to do something so good for the planet and help launch an incredibly successful product.