I want people who want the product.

We’ve been working on SPiNNWERK since 2009. In autumn 2010, we officially launch. As a brand-new agency, we’re invited to pitch for Unilever Austria’s social media work. It’s for Knorr.

Hanna Spegel knows the communications director, Barbara Fuchs-Puchner, from their time working together at a PR agency. Hanna and I were in the first cohort of the Online Marketing diploma course at the Werbeakademie together. I’ve known for a long time that I want her on the team. Along with Irene Schuch and Markus Nutz, she makes up SPiNNWERK’s founding team.

Our approach: we don’t want a community of people hoping to win a dream kitchen or great frying pans. We want people who simply want a small sample pack of Knorr products. People who are genuinely interested in the product, even though ready meals don’t exactly have a sexy reputation.

The idea isn’t easy to get across. I manage to persuade them. We’re initially promised 5,000 sample packs. Once the campaign goes live, they’re gone in two days. We increase the total to 10,000. People show that they really do want to try Knorr.

On 8 March 2011, the new account is announced publicly: SPiNNWERK handles social media for Knorr Austria (AllesWerbung).