Ninety-six percent of American mothers plan to make changes to their food-buying habits in 2013, according to the results of a national survey of more than 1,000 mothers, conducted by Fleishman-Hillard and TheMotherhood.com. The study, "Cart to Kitchen 2013: Slicing Into Moms' Food Decisions," identified what is driving moms' consumer behaviors in meal planning, grocery shopping and meal preparation, as well as changes that food marketers should anticipate in 2013. It also uncovered insights about the food influencers and media channels moms trust most when it comes to making food-buying decisions. Moms place higher priority on the opinions of bloggers and peers than that of experts like doctors and dietitians, which is an important takeaway for food marketers, said Kristie Sigler, senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard. "Moms are turning to their peers online and off for information about food, from general to more specific information about genetically modified organisms, pesticides and other food safety topics," Sigler said in a release. Overwhelmingly, moms don't think major brands are relating to them and their unique needs, said Liz Hawks, founding co-chair of the agency's marketing-to-moms team. “Brands can bridge the gap by starting with facts, moving to insights and ending with ideas that will drive moms' food purchases, even in the face of so much change," she said. The results found that organization appears to be a pain point for moms, from shopping to meal preparation. Moms indicated they want to be more organized in how they shop (41%), and they want to make fewer trips to the grocery store (33%). In addition, they would like to be more organized with weekly meal planning (67%) and make meals ahead and freeze them (51%). Moms are looking to food brands to help them become more organized. Nutrition is another key focus for moms, whose list of desired 2013 food-purchase changes starts with a drive to buy healthier food. More than half of the moms surveyed said they started that behavior in 2012 by reducing purchases of snacks, sugar, processed foods, soda and carbohydrates. And 49% of moms want to buy less processed food in 2013, particularly moms younger than 30. Half of moms surveyed said they are reading more food labels now than they have before. In fact, reading food labels is a behavior of the majority, with 78% saying they read labels. Another 15% do so "sometimes," particularly those who cook dinner at home four or more times per week. They are looking for ingredients they want to consume less, including high fructose corn syrup, sugar, artificial dyes and gluten. Moms also revealed that technology is prevalent in the kitchen. Only one-fourth of moms said they don't use any technology in the kitchen while cooking. Of the three-fourths of moms who said they use technology while cooking, sources such as AllRecipes.com (25%), Pinterest (19%) and FoodNetwork.com (15%) ranked highest. Moms also rely upon food-based TV programs and the online counterparts of food magazines. "We found it interesting that more than three-quarters of moms are watching food programs on TV and reading food media Web sites, and nearly three-quarters have signed up for food brand emails, considering these are not all 'foodie' moms, but everyday meal-preparing moms," said Cooper Munroe, co-founder of TheMotherhood.com. "Food brands must evaluate how they are using these trusted channels to deliver the right messages, mom to mom." "Woman with Baby Food Shopping from Shutterstock"
Kraft Foods’ Gevalia Kaffe coffee brand will operate a temporary, pop-up cafe in New York City’s Times Square during the Christmas/New Year holiday week, starting Dec. 24. The Gevalia Cafe, at 253 West 47th St., will treat locals and NYC visitors to free cups of Gevalia coffee and coupons. The goal is to introduce coffee lovers to the “rich, never bitter taste of Gevalia” and encourage them to make a resolution to “leave bitter behind” by switching to the brand, says Gevalia. "Johan," the ambassador featured in the brand’s advertising, will make an appearance at the Gevalia Cafe on Dec. 30, during which he will serve coffee and pose for photos with guests. The cafe will be open 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m. on Dec. 26 and 27; 8:30 a.m.-11 p.m. on Dec. 28; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. on Dec. 29; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on Dec. 30; and 10 a.m. on Dec. 31 through 1 a.m. Jan. 1. Previously available online only, Gevalia began offering its top 10 varieties in U.S. grocery retailers nationwide late last year.
With more people (including parents and teens) on the road during the holiday season, Sprint is taking the time to remind people of the dangers of texting and driving, while also touting its own app that prevents the practice. With a new advertising campaign breaking next week, the Overland Park, Kan. company and its agency, Team Sprint (Digitas and Leo Burnett), depict the vast array of text messages a teen gets as a swarm of bugs completely encircling them. In the commercial, the daughter, swarmed by the bugs, says goodbye to her father and makes her way to her car (almost getting hit by one as she distractedly crosses the street). But once she gets into the car, the phone turns on the Sprint Drive First mobile application, and the swarm of bugs drops lifelessly to the ground. “We didn’t want to just report on the statistics and be another public service announcement,” Tracy Palmer, Sprint’s director of advertising, tells Marketing Daily. “We really wanted to promote the solution and the things we’re doing as a company that make parents and guardians aware of our app.” Available for Android-powered phones, Sprint’s “Drive First” app locks the phone when its GPS detects motion above 10 miles an hour. The app directs incoming phone calls to voice mail and silences distracting alerts. It can also send out an auto response to all text messages, which are held until the driver comes to a stop. (The app costs users $2 a month, but is available for a free 15-day trial through Google Play and also as part of Sprint’s Guardian safety and security services). “Sprint has had a very serious commitment around distracted driving and making sure we promote it internally and with our employees,” Palmer says. “It’s always been a part of our culture and our company.” In addition to its ad and app, Sprint has asked its employees and customers to sign a “distracted driving pledge,” supporting DoSomething.org’s Thumb Wars effort (which provides thumb socks as a visual reminder not to text and drive), and worked with companies that develop solutions to reduce distracted driving, as well as creating a public service announcement leveraging its NASCAR sponsorship. “It seems like over the past couple years, it becomes more and more of a huge issue. As we head into the holiday season, it felt like something we wanted to put out there in a bigger way,” Palmer says. “It’s something you want to keep top of mind. We feel we have a tremendous responsibility from a brand perspective, and it’s absolutely worth putting some emphasis on.”
Chrysler truck division Ram has spent a year in the country. The automaker, in February, began promoting five top country musicians -- Zac Brown Band, Kellie Pickler, Easton Corbin, Brantley Gilbert and Billy Currington -- under a digital, performance, promotional and partnership-based program called “2012 Road to the Ram Jam.” The campaign, which puts both Ram Truck and the artists in the spotlight, is also anchored to Ram’s ranch on Yahoo, “Ram Country on Yahoo! Music.” The site’s digital flatbed is loaded with video content, and a promotion tied to the year-long program dangling collectible posters, old-school vinyl records, and free music downloads. The grand prize was a chance to enter to win a trip for two to the program’s culminating event, which happens next week: the invitation-only “Ram Jam” concert on Dec. 29 at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works. As part of the artists’ support by Ram, they each got to drive a Ram Laramie Longhorn pickup for a year. Marketing Daily talks country with Marissa Hunter, chief of Ram Truck advertising. [Part II of the interview on Monday] Q: What's the state of Ram's relationship with Yahoo! Music going forward? Is Ram going to keep sustaining the "Ram Country Live” platform? A: That is a marquis program for us, and we have been enhancing our engagement through the site -- so yes, we will move forward with it. It's been quite interesting and a great testament to our presence in the space that they have exclusive rights to stream this concert. They are really savvy in country music and also in their ability to engage. As part of our relationship and arrangement with them, we did a handful of live sessions this year, too. Q: How has the whole program worked out? A: We have seen increased traffic to the site over the year, an increase from the first year [2011]. The live concert series was an enhancement to that relationship this year and drove a big increase in site traffic. So we are having conversations now on what we can do in 2013 to amplify the reach and engagement, but music content will remain the core. Q: How about KPI’s for “Road to Ram Jam.” What have you seen?A: We are very happy with that. This is the first time we have pulled together something this original and of this magnitude. It's new territory for us. On just a conversational basis, it turned out to be a unique way to build brand awareness in the country music. We saw a big spike in brand visibility metrics when we promoted Ram on the artists' own fan pages, on social media and through Ram Country [on Yahoo]. We saw 850,000 Web page visits during the program, and over 600,00 entries to our sweepstakes, and we saw about 5% increase in the number of entrants who opted-in to learn more about our brand. That's a big jump because typically, we would see a 1% to 3% increase in opt-ins. We garnered north of 11 million social media impressions, and then we had specific Ram Jam landing pages on all artist Web sites and those pages saw north of 40,00 visits, so we are excited even just with the pure numbers. The other thing is the fact that artists themselves responded very favorably to it, and were happy with the creative materials.