While the Water Boils

Barilla

Brand Marketing | Brand

Igniting a Passion for Pasta. Modern cultural and diet trends were causing a decline in sales of pasta, especially among millennials. Barilla wanted to use its position as the category’s leading brand to help that group of consumers think about pasta differently. Armed with a simple insight — millennials are a passionate generation — we developed a video series,“While the Water Boils.”

THE STRATEGY

YouTube sensation and food “Passionista” Hannah Hart, the host of the show, met with cultural icons like Bill Nye, Rachel Zoe and Wanda Sykes to dish about life and the pursuit of their passions — all in the time it takes to prepare pasta.

THE OUTCOME

  • 1% year-over-year sales growth for pasta category and Barilla, the first time in many years
  • 8.3 million+ minutes spent viewing the series on Barilla’s YouTube page and PassionForPasta.com in first season
  • 150+% increase in YouTube subscribers

24M

views

387K

engagements

393M

impressions