Ball Park Facilitates a Feeding Frenzy

Downers Grove, Ill. — Research conducted by Sara Lee Corp. revealed that teen boys and young adult men consume hot dogs more frequently and in greater quantities than women in the same age groups. But, just as important, the company knows that it's the female in the household who is the primary shopper, says Aaron Alt, general manager for the Ball Park brand.Those are the insights that shaped Ball Park's "Men. Easier Fed than Understood" campaign, which launched in April and targets female shoppers who purchase for males in her household. Alt says Sara Lee wants to "expand Ball Park from the maker of America's number-one selling beef hot dog into a major player in the 'guy food' space."The multi-level promotional effort includes print, TV, digital, social media, in-store and public relations activity. Sara Lee has relaunched Ball Park's website and Facebook page, drawing attention to multiple products, including Angus beef franks, deli style beef franks and flame-grilled patties.Ball Park recruited bloggers to spread the word about Ball Park in March. The bloggers requested stories from their female readers about how the "Men" theme applies to their own lives to win full-product-value coupons worth $18. Ball Park also awarded coupons to Facebook users who "Liked" the brand."The campaign celebrates the guys in women's lives by calling attention to the quirky and sometimes nonsensical behavior these guys take part in before reaching the conclusion that men are easier fed than understood," says Kevin Phillips, senior manager for shopper marketing at Sara Lee Corp. "The new campaign cleverly taps into consumer insights about what's important to our female consumer and feeding the men in her household." Sara Lee also used shopper marketing analysis, Phillips says, including insights into shoppers' path to purchase, brand research, shopper segmentation and syndicated information.Sara Lee uses a path-to-purchase strategy that embraces the "shopper" as well as the "consumer." For example, Ball Park might run a print ad that links to new items available at a certain retailer. "This targets our shopper during a moment when she's not thinking about shopping at that particular retailer and drives awareness of the new item," Phillips says. "Other times, we will be executing a digital program that is targeted to her during the shopping-planning process. We choose which area to focus on by understanding our shoppers' behavior through our shopper segmentation study."Phillips declined to disclose sales targets and measurements, but says "We have significantly increased our marketing investment against Ball Park by approximately 25% versus a year ago."Sara Lee planned the in-store elements to be retailer-specific, primarily in the grocery and mass channels, including Publix, Wal-Mart and SuperValu. Working with shopper marketing agency Mars Advertising, Southfield, Mich., Sara Lee has "channel marketers in each area of the country who, in turn, are working side by side with our retailers," Phillips says.Promotional tactics include retailer website ads, P-O-P materials, coupons, demos, "One example is our Safeway News America Program component," says Phillips. "These displays will be in the shopping cart announcing our Ball Park Flame Grilled Patties to consumers, and in the hot dog aisle driving them to the frozen aisle where the patties will be located."Publicis Seattle handles advertising; MWW Group, East Rutherford, N.J., handles public relations; and Spark Communications SMG, Chicago, buys media.Other key partners in the program include Valassis, Livonia, Mich., News America Marketing, New York, and Catalina, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Ball Park Facilitates a Feeding Frenzy

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Business Topic

Company

Market Segment