National grocery store Sobeys approached Leo Burnett to develop an app to help people discover meal ideas.

The challenge was that a vast majority of branded apps fail. A Deloitte study highlighted that “80% of brand or consumer apps receive less than 1,000 downloads.” There are many reasons why this occurs, but the underlying cause is most brands don’t deliver what consumers really want from an app.

This negative consumer perception toward branded apps compounds the biggest challenge facing the medium – how to stand out in a saturated app market, where over 350,000 apps are available and 34% of consumers download at least one app a week.

The ongoing evolution of the Sobeys brand is driven by its passion for food. The challenge was to develop an app that communicates Sobeys’ unique point of view on food. There was already an overabundance of apps that offer recipes, and since this was Sobeys’ first foray into apps, the objectives were to set benchmarks for Sobeys-branded app downloads and to get on the Apple store’s “What’s Hot” app list.

The agency uncovered the insight that there is a strong connection between how the target audience (women ages 30 to 50) feels and what she eats. Meals have a predetermined emotional association and a post-emotional response for her. She eats to socialize, nurture, express love, have fun, soothe pain and reward herself for a job well done.

Acknowledging the target’s deep relationship with food, the idea was to create a new way for her to navigate and discover meal inspiration. So Leo Burnett created the first app to match your mood to your food, called “Moodie Foodie.”

With Moodie Foodie, the user doesn’t have to think, they just need to feel. It’s the first app that serves food inspiration based on the user’s mood. From flirty and feisty to playful and carnivorous, no matter how they feel, they can find something that hits the spot.

The app was designed to invite the user to participate in building the mood and food categories. The community of users feed the ongoing success of the app by sharing their moods and foods with friends on Facebook or Twitter – therefore driving more downloads and participation.

A multi-tier media campaign supported the launch to drive awareness and downloads.

The Moodie Foodie app exploded, becoming the second most downloaded app in Canada on the iTunes Lifestyle section within a couple days of its release. The app was downloaded 20,000 in its first month, and the brand achieved its goal of landing on the iTunes “What’s Hot” list. This was critical in amplifying awareness and interest in the app. Engagement remains high with new foods and moods being added every day.