A slice of Emmett's on Grove's Hot Goat pizza on a silver metal server.
Submitted by Carmichael Lynch

Montchevre Hot Goat Pizza Launch in New York

Influencer Marketing

Carmichael Lynch Relate launched Montchevre Hot Honey Goat Cheese through a New York pizza takeover at Emmett's on Grove, with the agency reporting nearly 8.6M earned social impressions.

8.6MEarned Impressions

Case in 60 seconds

Saputo USA needed to introduce Montchevre Hot Honey Goat Cheese, a new collaboration with Mike's Hot Honey, to fun-loving foodies, which is hard for a packaged cheese that has to be tasted before its flavour claim means anything.

Foodies judge a new flavour by eating it and by hearing a trusted peer's verdict rather than by reading a launch announcement, so the page frames a restaurant menu and influencer reviews as the route into New York food culture.

Carmichael Lynch Relate put the cheese on the menu of a New York restaurant as a Montchevre-branded Hot Goat pizza, so the product launched as a dish people could taste rather than as a product on a shelf.

Claudia Oshry and Ben Soffer hosted a private pre-launch party at Emmett's on Grove and captured live-on-the-street hot takes for branded social content, while free slices went to New Yorkers that evening and the Hot Goat pizza ran at the West Village and SoHo locations for six months. NYC foodie influencers then visited the restaurant to share personal Hot Goat pizza reviews, supported by influencer unboxing moments, national media outreach and paid and owned social content.

Carmichael Lynch reports that more than 1,200 slices were sampled and that Emmett's restaurants sold 750+ Hot Goat pizzas during the six-month run, while attendees published nearly 50 pieces of social content contributing to nearly 8.6 million earned social impressions and paid review partners secured more than 500,000 additional impressions.

Strategy Breakdown

Fun-loving foodies in New York, reached through media, influencers and New Yorkers who stopped in at Emmett's on Grove on launch evening.
Goat cheese is an ingredient rather than a finished dish, so the launch needed a food that showed the hot honey flavour in use, which is the job the Hot Goat pizza did on the Emmett's menu.
Montchevre appears as the named ingredient inside a restaurant's pizza rather than as the host of its own event, which lets Emmett's on Grove and Mike's Hot Honey lend the product standing with New York foodies.
Foodies trust a taste and a peer's verdict more than a brand claim, so the campaign put free slices and personal influencer reviews ahead of anything Montchevre said about itself.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • Carmichael Lynch

Participation mechanic

  • New Yorkers who came to Emmett's on Grove on launch evening received free Hot Goat pizza slices and branded swag, and could order the limited-edition pizza at the West Village and SoHo locations for six months afterwards.

Creator role

  • Claudia Oshry — creator
  • Ben Soffer — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Earned Impressionsnearly 8.6M impressions
Social Content Piecesnearly 50 content pieces

Why Carmichael Lynch's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A limited-time menu item in a named restaurant gives a packaged ingredient a place to be tasted for months rather than for one night, because the Hot Goat pizza kept selling at Emmett's long after the launch party ended.

  2. 2

    Splitting influencer roles by phase, with hosts at the event and reviewers afterwards, stretches one launch moment into several rounds of content, because the post-launch foodie reviews kept the pizza in social feeds after the party.

  3. 3

    Free sampling at a public launch turns curiosity into something visible, because the line around the block and more than 1,200 slices gave media and influencer attendees a scene to post about rather than a press release to repeat.

Related Case studies