Challenge

Across the Middle East, many consumers viewed monosodium glutamate (MSG) as an unhealthy additive rather than a natural umami ingredient. This long-standing misconception held back adoption and required a strong repositioning strategy. The campaign needed to correct misinformation by presenting MSG as a flavour-enhancing culinary tool that can help reduce salt intake. At the same time, we needed to build a high-quality, receptive audience in a region with varied demographics, while navigating the competitive nature of video distribution algorithms.

Eat Well, Live Well.

Approach

We designed a top-of-funnel video views campaign that prioritised education over direct sales. Content focused on recipes, practical use cases, and technical insights into MSG’s umami characteristics. This required a cross-platform strategy, using Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to take advantage of their different audiences and video formats. Defining how Primal would measure “organic quality followers” was central to the plan; engagement rate, video completion, and post-view actions formed the core indicators. The media strategy aimed to drive a high volume of low-cost views to quickly establish a strong educational base.

Results

We launched targeted video view campaigns across GCC markets, using interest-based and lookalike audiences interested in food and wellness. Creative variations and captions were A/B tested to identify the strongest messaging that clearly explained MSG as a flavour enhancer that supports sodium reduction. Constant performance monitoring allowed budgets to be shifted toward the best-performing channels and assets, ensuring cost efficiency. This ongoing optimisation showed how Primal could build a large pool of engaged followers and lay the groundwork for long-term brand perception improvement.

x2.15

CPA Decrease

52%

VTR Increase

39%

Page Follower Increase