• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 5, 2016

BEF Foods, the grocery products division of Bob Evans Farms, Inc., has awarded McCann Detroit its creative and shopper marketing business, supporting its grocery segment of refrigerated and frozen convenience foods. 

Sibling media agency UM, part of IPG Mediabrands, has been named BEF Foods' media buying agency of record, responsible for traditional and digital media as well as search and paid social.

The two agencies will work in tandem on brand strategy. 

The appointments followed a competitive review process and are effective immediately. It wasn’t immediately clear who the incumbents were or if they participated in the review. The assignments do not include the company’s restaurant division which was not part of the review. 

According to its most recent annual report BEF spent approximately $3.6 million on ads in fiscal 2015. (That compares to the roughly $31 million that the restaurant division spent last year on advertising and marketing). 

That BEF ad total excludes coupons and trade promotion marketing costs. The unit’s advertising activities include newspaper and digital ads aimed at increasing brand awareness and building consumer loyalty. 

Consumer promotions include the distribution of recipes featuring BEF products and targeted coupons designed to attract new customers and increase the frequency of purchases. Trade promotions are aimed at providing retail display support, price discounts and securing additional shelf space. 

Trade promotions, recorded as a reduction to net sales, were $56.6 million last year, per the annual report. 

Bob Evans has attracted the interest of an activist investor, Sandell Asset Management, which, with a roughly 8% stake in the company has already won several seats on the company’s board and continues to press for a split of the BEF and restaurant operations into separate companies. Sandell believes the move would maximize shareholder value.