The NY Times reports Kraft is upping their marketing budget — estimated at $1.4 billion a year — by $300 million to $400 million to help faltering sales.
A case in point is Kraft Singles sliced cheese; Kraft will devote a campaign that begins today to the glorification of the grilled cheese sandwich.
The television, online, print and retail campaign carries the upbeat theme “Have a happy sandwich.”
“In marketing-speak, we call it the ‘end dish,’ as in what’s the dish the product ends up in,” said Jane Hilk, vice president for marketing at the cheese and dairy business unit at Kraft in Glenview, Ill.
“If we can grow grilled cheese, and get grilled cheese back onto the list of quick menu options, we can grow our Kraft Singles business,” she added.
In campaigns from the longtime previous agency for Kraft Singles — the Chicago office of JWT, part of the WPP Group — the brand was peddled on “functional benefits,” Ms. Hilk said, like calcium content.
“But we’d hit that point where consumers say: ‘I know that. What else?’ ” she said, adding: “The conversation needs to happen on an emotional level because that’s where the power of a brand comes in. We found ourselves in need of strategy change and creative change.”
Enter a new agency, Nitro, a boutique becoming known for landing assignments — previously handled by far larger agencies — from giant marketers like Mars and Unilever. Nitro executives play up the agency’s status as a smaller, independent shop to suggest they are more nimble than their counterparts.
“We’re fortunate that in our experience so far we’ve had brave clients who understand the opportunity for engaging consumers in ways that are outside the traditional,” said Kathy Delaney, who recently joined Nitro as global executive creative director, based in the New York office.
“We’re not promising happiness; no brand can,” Ms. Delaney said. “What we’re promising is that for the three or four minutes you’re having a Kraft grilled cheese sandwich, you’re happy.”
The approach is “unconventional,” Ms. Delaney acknowledged, because “it is not about selling a cheese slice.”
But if Kraft could “get people to make just one more grilled cheese sandwich a year,” she added, sales of Kraft Singles would improve.
Along with a plethora of TV spots, the campaign will feature a contest on MySpace (myspace.com/haveahappysandwich), which begins on Oct. 15. Visitors will be asked to create video clips that celebrate grilled cheese; the winner gets $50,000 and a chance to have his or her video produced as a commercial.
I have to wonder if they'll become sponsors of the Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. ;)
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If they want to sell more Kraft Singles they could start with improving the taste of the bloody stuff. "Have a happy sandwich" - is that brilliant or what? Who would have thought of that...hang on...doesn't McDonalds have a "Happy Meal" for the kids? "In marketing-speak we call it the end-dish" - and you wonder why these people are an endangered species. School of No Idea. And well cheesy. "“If we can grow grilled cheese, and get grilled cheese back onto the list of quick menu options, we can grow our Kraft Singles business,” she added."
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Permalinkhahah most definitely. Nothing like tasty, plasticy cheese! It makes the meal. :D
And that "grow grilled cheese" bit had me in stitches laughing.
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PermalinkWARNING - Insanity ensues:
Well, everybody knows that Kraft grows its Grilled Cheese on the finest, free-range grills, which (unlike the George Forman Grills) are found in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. [Occasionally, some of these free-range grills are captured in backyards of some homes. Usually, these are the older, much larger, fully grown grills - often in stainless steel or black].
The grilled cheese infant (see Wikipedia for info*) is placed on the back (top) of the grill (which is temporarily restrained to allow proper placement), and it grows rapidly over a period of 2 weeks, at which point, the grill is again restrained, and the grilled cheese is harvested, sliced, cut, and packaged in bread-slice sized, individual wrappers. All that is then needed is for the consumer to heat the grilled cheese, preferably on a slice of white or wheat bread, and enjoy! (Some people add a slice of tomato to this).
Note that some of the cheese is allowed to remain on the grill, so as to not need to constantly put new cheese infants out. The grill and the cheese form a symbiotic relationship. The cheese protects the grill, and the grill gives the cheese mobility (wheels!), as well as allowing it a place to grow in relative safety.
As to complaints about the so-called lack of taste (or cardboard taste), this just shows that your palate is insufficiently developed. [This is much like the problem that some people have with the taste of Chivas Regal Royal Salute (or many other scotchs) - They don't see what the fuss is about]. If your palate was fully developed, you would be able to discern what US state the cheese came from, and what celluose pieces and/or bacteria were added to the grilled cheese during its growth on the grill, as the grill roamed about the landscape.
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(* No, really don't!)
Note that Chivas Regal Royal Salute is the 21 year old version of Chivas Regal Scotch. [And, yes, there is a difference].
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PermalinkBut this is genius! Everyone loves grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm eating one right now. Mmmm. Good.
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