The East Meets West Culinay Competition contest was created in order to sensibilize the consumers on Irish Pork and increase the reputation of the product

A successfull creative culinary competition for key opinion leaders.

When "East Meets West"

Hopscotch Sopexa imagined an exclusive competition split into 3 different rounds. To judge the candidates, the international agency has capitalized on its network of multicultural partners and has chosen a jury of renowned chefs in Vietnam composed of Cẩm Thiên Long (Steven Long), who took part in Top Chef Vietnam from 2016 to 2018 and has worked at some of the nation’s most prestigious restaurants, hotels and resorts, Kevin Trường with 20 years of experience, he worked  as Head Chef and Executive Chef Operation Group in leading 4 and 5-star hotels in the world, and Ryan Pham, who studied the culinary arts in Australia and was crowned in 2015 champion of the art of desert.

On the first round, 108 heterogeneous candidates as Chefs, Influencers, culinary students and home cooks, submitted digitally a fusion recipe made with Irish pork from Europe. On the second round, top 10 candidates submitted 2 videos of them cooking 2 recipes  from Irish pork – including the recipe imagined for the first round. And for the last round, the top 5 finalists cooked and presented their recipes to the judges during a unique event.

The communication agency has once again met the challenge of adapting to the sanitary restrictions of the Covid-19 to roll out an exceptional campaign. The Grand finale event was held in Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers with very strict sanitary measures. The finalists have been able to travel from their hometown following a very specific framework that still allow them to enjoy their journey and the singular experience lived during this outstanding competition.

A successfull first edition

This first Vietnamese edition of the East Meets West Culinay Competition  was a success. It has attracted more candidates than expected which showed a great excitement for the contest. The panel of judges chosen had something to do with it. They have been amazing, very supportive from initial to final round, acting like mentors for the candidates.

Accordingly, the campaign awareness has grown organically and attracted 3.7 M contacts.

The competition proved an effective way of raising the awareness about Irish Pork and ought to be reproduced in October.

We are looking forward to launching the second edition of the competition in the near future.

We were very happy to work with Hopscotch Sopexa Vietnam in delivering the first East Meets West Culinary Competition in this market. The competition succeeded in increasing awareness of Irish pork from Europe, while also helping young chefs and culinary students to gain recognition and advance their culinary careers. We are looking forward to launching the second edition of the competition in the near future.” concluded Jack Hogan, Market Specialist – EU Programmes Asia on Board Bia Irish Food Board