Hormel Shows New Summer Trick

Austin, Minn. — Hormel Foods wanted to show chili lovers and Walmart shoppers that the traditional winter comfort food could brave the heat of summer – and add incremental sales for the brand and retailer.Shopper insights from Hormel's in-house consumer insights group and partner agencies Nsight/RPM Connect, Minneapolis, and BIGresearch, Worthington, Ohio, enabled Nsight/RPM Connect to develop and manage the shopper marketing plan. The concept focused on the hot dog turning into a chili dog. Ads featuring the line "Q: Need a new trick for a plain dog?" urged shoppers to "savor the taste of summer.""We knew that a simple twist on a current behavior would be very relevant to the Walmart shopper," says Bob Pepper, group manager of the simple meals team for Hormel grocery products. "For instance, adding chili to a summer hot dog is a way for the consumer to take what they already do and make it just a little bit better, without complication – like a long recipe, or the cost of a long list of ingredients. During these trying economic times, we felt that we had a compelling solution to bring to the Walmart shopper that really delivers on the promise of saving money and living better."Pepper says the heavy lifters and day-to-day overseers of the campaign were Kristi Zabowski, managing director at RPM Connect; Dan Uskert, brand manager for Hormel chili; and Darren Carter, Hormel customer business manager to Walmart.The Hormel brand campaign integrated with Walmart's brand positioning in several ways: Shoppers could see the campaign messages in Parade magazine and a Walmart circular the week before the Fourth of July weekend. On Hormel's "In Store Now" brand page within Walmart.com, there were meal suggestions in addition to the chili dog, a coupon offer and a Facebook share link.Banner ads at Walmart.com featured the "Need a new trick?" tagline with coupon links. The Walmart.com e-wire blast sent information prior to the Fourth of July weekend. In-store displays included a mix of COMAC (Walmart's bulk displays of featured items), power wings and sidekicks, as well as Action Alley placement. The campaign ran for eight weeks, and results were above expectations in terms of shopper engagement and sales.Pepper reports positive Walmart.com programming/metrics, particularly for the e-blast (0.21% click-through rate) and the coupon page feature (4.01%). The coupons fared better than expected and above the national average for both prints and redemption, he says.

Hormel Shows New Summer Trick

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Business Topic

Company

Market Segment