• by Steve Ellwanger , May 10, 2022

Beyond Meat is blending celebrities and product sampling as part of a summer campaign fronted by company investor and ambassador Kevin Hart.

The first campaign spot, titled “Take Your BBQ Beyond,” was written and produced by Hart’s entertainment company, HartBeat Productions.

Hart cooks plant-based burgers and sausages for visitors and his longtime friend and standup comedian Will “Spank” Horton—all of whom shift to various decade-themed clothing as Hart tries to convince a skeptical Horton that “change is good.”

The spot ends with Hart saying “Changing the world one burger at a time.”

Having become an investor in Beyond Meat in 2019, Hart appeared in a more somber commercial for the brand a year ago. He talked about “witnessing multiple strokes, heart attacks, family members with diabetes”—a common factor being the food they had consumed.

“I think what’s different about this is that Kevin’s production company was the storyteller in this,” Beyond Meat chief brand officer Beth Moskowitz tells Marketing Daily. “This is what they love and Kevin believes in the mission of the company. He’s gone plant-based and it’s near and dear to him.”

Over the past year, Beyond Meat has featured various Black notables in video ads, among them current and former NBA stars Nick “Swaggy P” Young and DeAndre Jordan, professional German footballer Serge Gnabry, and rap music pioneer Snoop Dogg.

“When we choose to feature people in our ads, they are people who can grab eyeballs and influence consumers and get the top value out of those spots,” says Moskowitz. “People stop on a Snoop Dog ad—they stop and watch all the way through.”

While the pandemic put a halt to Beyond Meat’s in-store product sampling—which is key to help overcome concerns about taste that many people have about plant-based meat substitutes—plans call for a resumption this year.

“These effective programs have long been a staple of our field marketing efforts, given our conviction that tasting is believing,” Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said in a February earnings call with financial analysts.

After a four-year hiatus, Hart is back on the road with a Reality Check Tour in more than 30 cities across North America beginning June 30 in New Orleans. He will be joined in several July shows by comedian Chris Rock.

“We’ll be doing some popup events with him in the parking lots. We’re working with his team right now on the actual dates and locations—but we’ll be doing a ton of pop-ups,” Moskowitz adds.