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Peanut Hottie Launches in U.S., Runs Facebook Promo
- by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, September 12, 2014
Peanut Hottie, a year-old peanut-flavored hot drink mix that has taken off in the U.K., is launching in Walmart in the U.S. To promote the launch, the new brand is offering sample
giveaways on Facebook on Sept. 13, National Peanut Day.
A jar of the drink mix — the brainchild of a food marketing consultant — will be given away each hour during that day. To earn chances to win, consumers will be asked to post “Happy Peanut Day” on the brand’s U.S. Facebook wall.
Made from American-grown peanuts, the beverage is prepared like instant cocoa, by stirring in hot water. It contains no caffeine or artificial additives or colors, and has under 100 calories per serving.
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The original flavor and a new variety, peanut butter and chocolate, hit the shelves of nearly 2,500 Walmart stores on Sept. 7.
In the U.K., the original flavor launched in Sainsbury's last October and, thanks to strong sales, was picked up by Waitrose and Booths in February. This month, it's also debuting in Tesco, at which point it will be in approximately 1,200 stores, which "is huge, within the U.K. market," Lisa Gawthorne, co-creator of Peanut Hottie, tells Marketing Daily.
Gawthorne — who with partner Karl Morris offers consumer goods sales, marketing and distribution services through their five-person, London-based firm Bravura Foods — says she hit on the idea for Peanut Hottie two years ago. After noting the tasty result when she washed down a spoonful of peanut butter with hot tea, she had Morris try the same. They determined, to their surprise, that there was no hot peanut butter drink in existence, and knew that they had a winner.
In the U.S., where Bravura is working on the launch with The S3 Agency, the initial marketing plan will focus on building consumer awareness through outreach to magazine editors, influential bloggers and other media, combined with promotions and engagement activities on Facebook and Twitter, reports Gawthorne. (The @PeanutHottieUSA Twitter account already has nearly 3,000 followers.)
Work on expansion into European and other markets is also underway.
"We intend to establish Peanut Hottie as a leader in the hot beverages category, and carve out a new category," Gawthorne declares.
Though I am not a big fan of peanut butter, I would like to taste this hot peanut butter drink. Winter is coming and I would really like to snuggle with a nice hot cup of Peanut Hottie. If people are saying it is delicious, then why not give it a try? After all, I am up for tasting something new, anything that can make a cold day seem more bearable.
Though this seems like a good drink to have at home, I don’t know if people here in the U.S. will actually be that exited about a peanut butter drink. I know a lot of people fancy the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, or just eating straight out of the peanut butter jar with a spoon, who’s to say that they are going to like the consistency of having to drink peanut butter, instead of eating it. On the other hand, lets say that they do like it, but how long is it going to last before the can of Peanut Hottie is packed away with the rest of the cocoa cans and chocolate powder cans in the kitchen cabinet?
Don’t get me wring, I am just stating some of the things a lot of people do, they get exited about something new, but as time passes, something changes that makes them think differently about the product, where they don’t necessarily think its “all that” anymore.
If Peanut Hottie is in fact, as delicious as people in the U.K. say it is, they I’m happy to try Peanut Hottie myself, after all, I don’t like peanut butter because of the consistency and texture, but having a hot peanut flavored drink seems like good stuff, so at least I’ll try it.