Kraft Fights Hunger with Cause Campaign

Northfield, Ill. -- Kraft Foods' "Huddle to Fight Hunger," which launched in August 2010 and culminated in January, was a large-scale campaign complete with football and food celebrities, a high-profile event and consumer incentives. The goal: encourage consumers to help Kraft give away at least 20 million meals. The strategy: provide a number of ways for consumers to take part in goal fulfillment, or "get in the game."While that was the big-picture goal, the campaign also provided incentives to get in the store and, once there, to choose Kraft products.The company donated meals on behalf of shoppers who used coupons available online and in newspapers. For every coupon redeemed, Kraft provided one additional meal to its partner Feeding America, a hunger-relief charity. "This encouraged the consumer to choose Kraft brands at the shelf because she values that each of her purchases will directly help someone in need," says Stephen Chriss, senior director of scale and marketing partnerships for Kraft Foods North America, citing research suggesting that 79% of consumers would switch brands based on their association with a good cause.Nearly 45% of the campaign's budget was spent on in-store merchandising and activation, including in-store coupons and offers, and versatile POS kits, says Chriss. In addition, Kraft Foods worked with more than 60 food retailers, including supermarkets and even convenience-store chain Circle K, to implement customized in-store displays and programming. "We designed programs that would support each retail partner's local hunger relief efforts," says Susan Carey Coyle, director of shopper marketing, Kraft Foods North America. "Each program is built from the ground up so both Kraft's and the retailer's objectives and business goals are achieved." The campaign featured several of Kraft's "power" brands, including Planters, Oreo, Ritz, Kool-Aid, Oscar Mayer and Maxwell House. Ritz and Oreo came out with special football-shaped crackers and cookies, and various Kraft cheese products carried on-pack stickers offering an opportunity to give five meals to Feeding America.A core part of the program was a themed POS display that could be used in different areas of the store or combined with other types of displays, such as brand shippers or case displays, in the store lobby. "All displays had the 'Huddle to Fight Hunger' look and feel but were supplemented with custom messages or offers developed for the retailer," Coyle says. Depending on retailer preference, in-store elements ranged from large displays in high-traffic areas to shelf tags, signage, indoor and outdoor banners, and recipe books. In addition to the themed display, the campaign included branded shippers and custom pallet display-ready modules, which combined Kraft SKUs into a destination, providing ideas for tailgating. Kraft customized elements for the African American and Hispanic communities, and also coordinated marketing support vehicles such as consumer incentives; cinema, newspaper and magazine ads; a major public relations campaign; social and mobile activities; and a dedicated website at Huddletofighthunger.com. The celebrities used in the campaign were National Football League legend Joe Montana, sports journalist Erin Andrews, and Pat and Gina Neely from the Food Network's "Down Home with the Neelys."Shopper and consumer research was conducted prior to the program's creation, including interviews, focus groups and online research, Chriss says. The campaign was developed based on three key insights: Americans in this tough economy want to help the less fortunate; Americans feel responsible for the health of their communities and 82% are deeply concerned about hunger; and people feel invested in and proud of their communities.The campaign culminated on Jan. 9 in San Francisco at the Kraft Fight Hunger college football bowl game. Prior to the game, referees used a Double Stuf Oreo heads-or-tails cookie for the official coin toss.

Kraft Fights Hunger with Cause Campaign

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