• by Larissa Faw , March 4, 2021

McCormick’s is enticing people to buy French’s Mustard by encouraging them to switch out their less healthy condiments.

The “MustSwitch” campaign, developed with Fitzco, features restauranteur Tom Colicchio who is hosting a pop-up at his restaurant Craft NYC on March 6-7 to debut his specially designed French’s-inspired sandwich.

At the event, instead of accepting cash or card, the campaign will ask people to swap their mayo jars or take a pledge to switch to healthier condiments as their “payment” to receive the hoagie. (Any unopened condiments will be donated to a local food bank.)

For people not in NYC, French’s Mustard is offering a limited amount of at-home meal kits or recipe that can be obtained by visiting Frenchs.com/MustSwitch.

This effort is further supported with paid social as well as PR efforts.

The idea for the “MustSwitch” was born out of an insight around health and wellness, says Ryan Boblett, head of creative, Fitzco. “When it comes to food, you usually feel like you have to give up flavor to be healthy. We wanted to show that with French’s you could get all the flavor and all the health benefits. So we decided to create a tasty trade.”

Partnering with Colicchio was an easy decision thanks to his “recognizable face and trusted voice,” explains Jill Pratt, CMO, McCormick’s. “He is also very health conscious and brings another level of authenticity to our message.”

“By also partnering with his restaurant, we were able to extend our reach beyond those physically able to pick-up take-out from our pop-up, but to a national digital audience through online order and delivery,” she states.

For his part, Colicchio has been a “fan” of the brand since childhood. “When this partnership opportunity came my way it was a no brainer,” he says. “I love the concept of making this one-of-a-kind sandwich for consumers that might be looking for a healthier alternative without having to sacrifice flavor.”