Food Marketing
September
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Maybe The General Mills Marketing Team Was Eating The Brownies?
2011 at 02:11 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
From Steve Hall at AdRants, this is a great story about a missed opportunity on a couple of angles.
By now, you've all seen the Cheech and Chong Magic Brownie movie in which the two stoners embark upon a road trip to Flaming Pole. If not, watch it below. What you might not know is that General Mills may have let an interesting opportunity pass them by as this video gains traction.
The video promotes the brand's 90 calorie Fiber One bar. But a big part of the video is the quest to reach Flaming Pole. Sounds like the marketer could and should have done something with Flaming Pole. Well they didn't. But someone did. Head over to FlamingPole.com.
On the site it's pointed out Generals Mills did SEO their way to the top of "magic brownies" search results but they neglected to capitalize on Flaming Pole. Perhaps it's irrelevant but we think they could have had a lot of fun building out Flaming Pole to Burning Man-esque greatness.
Posted in: Food Marketing
April
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A Beard, A Foot and A Creepy Lady With A Bad Southern Accent Make Me Want To Eat A Quiznos? Huh?
2011 at 10:44 am Posted by Sherri Sharp
In all of the advertising blogs I subscribe to, I see a lot of weird commercials. Sure, many of them are foreign and are good for a laugh that the FCC would never allow to run here. The bloggers that post them never have any sales data, it's just entertainment for us crazy ad people - but I do wonder how these off-the-wall concepts move products. So, I'm wondering what a good old homegrown campaign for Quiznos is going to do because this is one of the strangest series of spots I've seen. Today, AdRants' Steve Hall dropped this on us:
"Living up to the product tagline, 'If this were an ordinary sub, you'd eat it in an ordinary way', Quiznos is out with a seriously whacked commercial in which people go about eating the chain's new Chicken Bacon Dipper sandwich in very, very strange ways.
Topping the scales of weird is the dude in this commercial called The Hair Raiser. Seriously. Someone's on drugs here. A lot of drugs."
I have to agree with Steve. The one reason to opt for a Quiznos over Subway is the image of the yummy sandwich going through the oven with the bubbling cheese. There is nothing remotely appetizing about these four spots. The weakest by far is the Russian gym coach - if you saw that one without the rest of the campaign you'd probably miss that it's a Quiznos sandwich at all. Considering the fast food industry alone spent $4.2 billion on marketing in 2010, Quiznos needs to go back to their niche and identify the key differentiators that made them a formidable competitor.
See all four spots here: http://www.adrants.com/2011/03/quiznos-is-trippin-with-chicken-bacon.php#more
Posted in: Food Marketing
October
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Have a Food Product Idea You’d Like to Turn Into a Viable Business? Don’t Miss This Conference!
2010 at 11:47 am Posted by Sherri Sharp
For individuals thinking about starting a business from a product idea or even an old family recipe, the third annual Making It In Michigan conference can help bring concept to fruition. Hosted by the Michigan State University (MSU) Product Center, the conference is designed with budding entrepreneurs in mind and features multiple educational sessions, a keynote address from a nationally renowned expert on consumer food trends and the opportunity to network with over 130 vendors of Michigan specialty food products.
Conference attendees will leave the conference equipped with the practical knowledge and industry resources needed to move an idea from the concept stage to a finished and marketable product. Attendees will be able to corroborate and refine business concepts with a virtual market validation test. Industry experts will offer insight and tips on managing the common hurdles often encountered by entrepreneurs, including food safety, working with co-packers, marketing and food safety issues in the dairy, meat, bakery and beverage areas.
“The conference was designed to help those people that have an idea in their head for a business, but have no idea what to do or where to start in making their dream a reality,” states Matthew Birbeck, MSU Product Center Counselor. “Especially considering the state of Michigan’s economy, someone without a job can fulfill the aspiration of launching Grandma’s spaghetti sauce into an income-generating venture,” says Birbeck.
The Making It In Michigan conference will be held Tuesday, October 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing.
The educational sessions will bring together leading Michigan experts to help guide attendees through starting businesses in the following areas:
• Product and Recipe Development
• Scientific and Regulatory Criteria Used For Evaluating Products
- Creating Product Inventory and Distribution
• Identifying Target Market and Customer Profiling
• Preparing For and Working With Co-Packers
• Shelf-stable Food Processing
Conference participants will also have time to network with the winners of this year’s MSU Product Center awards and learn from their success stories. Awards will be presented for the Best Barrier Buster, Most Successful Business Transition and Best Innovative Business Idea. MSU Product Center innovation counselors and staff members, Product Center clients, business consultants, regulatory officials and food and farming groups will also be available to provide in-depth information and counseling.
The Marketplace trade show in the afternoon will feature over 130 entrepreneurs who will be showcasing their new food products to buyers and conference attendees who can taste and purchase items. In addition, the Michigan Grocers Association will have store directors and department managers, buyers and category managers and manufacturer retail account managers walking the trade show after their seminar to support buying local Michigan food. The $60 per person conference registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, educational sessions and admission to the Marketplace trade show.
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Posted in: Food Marketing
February
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2010 at 12:19 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
Campbell Soup is changing the design of its iconic soup-can labels and store displays. For two years, the company studied consumer reactions such as changes in heart rate to various images of Campbell logos and bowls of soup, using the results to create labels with larger bowls and no spoons. Ilan Brat reports in the Wall Street Journal that the Campbell Soup Co. is relying on new neuromarketing studies to guide the redesign of its condensed-soup packaging. The research looks at physiological responses -- such as perspiration and increased heart rate -- to marketing. Campbell researchers studied microscopic changes in skin moisture, heart rate and other biometrics to see how consumers react to everything from pictures of bowls of soup to logo design.
The company hopes the label and display changes will help shoppers connect on a deeper level to the products and boost its condensed soup sales by 2% over the next two years. For years, Campbell's researchers asked consumers whether they remembered an ad and whether it made them more likely to buy a product. But a 2005 Campbell analysis revealed that, overall, ads deemed more effective in surveys had little relation to changes in Campbell sales. Another round of research showed that Campbell's large logo at the top of shelf displays draws more attention than necessary. At first glance, the logo's bright red background makes all varieties of soups—from the classic chicken noodle to the jazzier Italian Wedding Soup—seem to blend together, the company learned.
In interviews, participants also said the soup pictured on the can and shelf labels didn't look warm. And the big spoon holding a sample of soup on each label provoked little emotional response.
Campbell's three biggest sellers—chicken noodle, tomato and cream of mushroom, the soup can labels immortalized by Andy Warhol—will remain the same. But on other labels, steam will rise from larger, more vibrant pictures of soup in more modern, white bowls. And those unemotional spoons will disappear.
Posted in: Food Marketing
June
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Sign of the times #478. Say goodbye to Pizza Hut and hello to The Hut.
2009 at 01:42 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
Pizza Hut has announced that they are slowly re-branding themselves as The Hut. Sales for the chain, like most every other restaurant chain, have been down, so they are hoping this will get people back into their restaurants.
Specifically, young people.
A Pizza Hut spokesperson told Brand Week, "There's a big trend in general around having confidence in the foods that you eat. People over the age of 35, whose frequency with pizza is declining, said one of the big things that would reignite their passion with the category is to have a pizza made with multigrain crust and an all-natural tomato sauce. And yes, we're also introducing another vocabulary word with Pizza Hut, which is 'The Hut.' That ties in nicely with today's texting generation. We wanted to make sure that Pizza Hut and 'The Hut' become common vernacular for our brand." (Brilliant. They're introducing the word "the".)
So, we as marketers need to make sure that the younger demo can effectively text our names? Let’s see, Burger King becomes “The King”, Red Lobster becomes “The Slob” and poor Arby’s becomes just “RBs”. Technology again trumps years of commitment to creating, protecting and growing a brand.
Posted in: Food Marketing
