Monthly Archives: November 2013

Eat Your Vegetables!

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We’ve all heard it – “eat your vegetables and you’ll grow up big and strong!” And we know that vegetables are healthy and nutritious, helping with weight control, fitness, and overall health. But be honest… How many people really look forward to eating broccoli? Well, the answer is clearly not enough. Broccoli is ranked only number 20 on a list of popularly consumed vegetables. Yet, it is an important tool in the quest for good health.

Diet has now overtaken smoking as the number one risk factor for disease and death in the U.S. One in three children will develop diabetes, adding to the one in three adults who are already considered clinically obese! Add to these statements the statistic that only five percent of Americans under the age of 50 are getting the recommended daily amounts of vegetables and we can see why marketing vegetables can be an important campaign.

Getting people to eat more broccolis was the focus of an exercise by ad agency Victor & Spoils, a company that has created campaigns for the biggest brands in the food business. Beginning with basic research at farms, restaurants, grocery stores, homes, and schools, the agency took on the challenge of creating an innovative campaign to bring the humble broccoli to the masses. The result of the fictitious campaign has broccoli and kale battling it out for your table!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

1. First, poll students about their eating habits. Individually, have the students list all the foods they have eaten in the past few days. Then, build a master list on the board and count the different food types. How many ate vegetables, including broccoli? Why?
2. Next, show the New York Times video:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/100000002528048/creating-the-broccoli-craze.html?WT.mc_id=VI-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M331I-ROS-1113-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=230184
3. What are key elements from the video? How did the agency research the topic? Who is the target market? Key messages?
4. Divide students into teams and have each team select a different vegetable.
5. Have each team develop a marketing strategy and a promotional plan for increasing sales of their product.

Source:  New York Times, 11/1/13

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Who Wants Gum?

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Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss products that are in the mature stage of the product life cycle. What products are in this stage? How are they marketed?
  2. Next, discuss various marketing strategies that can be used in the mature stage.
  3. Poll students and list on the board: all the gum and candy products that they have purchased or know about.
  4. What are the reasons that people buy gum and candy? What are the distribution points?
  5. Bring up Wrigley’s Web site (or other gum companies): http://www.wrigley.com/global/index.aspx
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a gum product, determine a target market, messaging, and campaign.

Source:  Chicago Tribune, 9/8/13

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Fresh Undies for New Jobs

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Clean underwear can make us feel good. And when we feel good, we act more positive. At least that’s the premise behind Fruit of the Loom’s new social media campaign. Using information from LinkedIn, the company is giving away 25,000 fresh pairs of new underpants to people who get new jobs and change their status on LinkedIn!

Social media is tightly integrated throughout the campaign. The lucky recipients receive a note from Fruit of the Loom asking them to pick a size and style, as well as select whether they want to let everybody else on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn know about their freebie. The campaign is titled “Fresh Gigs” with a message that a fresh pair of underwear makes each day start a little better.

The campaign will likely make moms happy, too. After all, don’t most mothers say not to leave the house in ratty undies? This campaign helps people show a little respect for their new jobs.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

1. Show the Fruit of the Loom Web site: http://starthappy.fruit.com/freshgigs
2. There are a variety of statistics and figures on the site – scroll down the page to view interactive media and video explaining the program.
3. Show the commercials (on YouTube):
http://youtu.be/CoqOCW4qERg
http://youtu.be/bZPrDA7SwF8
4. Discuss the tactics that are integrated into this campaign. What elements are included? Is there anything else that could be added?
5. Using this campaign as the base, divide students into teams. Have each team develop an integrated campaign for another personal product.
6. Determine target market, key messages, and elements of the campaign.

Source:  Brandchannel.com, 10/4/13

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