• by Aaron Baar , March 4, 2009

ConAgra posits that PAM (Product of Arthur Meyerhoff) cooking spray is the product to help prepare the perfect meal in a new round of advertising for the no-stick spray. 

"PAM has been the market share leader for years, and we still command the share lead in the category," says Joe O'Malley, senior brand manager for PAM at ConAgra Foods. "But it is a brand that you want to keep reminding people of."

Television commercials, which begin airing this month, depict worst-case scenario cooking and baking situations. In one spot, a mother hosting a birthday party is furiously trying to remove cupcakes from a pan as children in the other room chant for their treats. Hopeless, she finally serves the cupcakes in a messy mound to the stunned children, who immediately begin chanting "Redo! Redo!"

However, the scene is only a daydream, as it's revealed that she used PAM Baking spray to make sure the cupcakes didn't stick. (She's greeted with cheers in the real world when she serves perfect cupcakes.) Another commercial shows a newlywed trying to pry a salmon fillet out of a pan for her in-laws, only to ruin the meal when the pan breaks and flies out the window. Again, the nightmare is only a dream.

"We use the reveal aspect to show that as they're thinking about the worst thing that can happen, they will get that successful outcome if they use PAM," O'Malley says.

Print ads show women using various construction tools to help remove food stuck to cookware. The campaign's tagline, "Relax. PAM helps you pull it off," is intended to resonate with a target that strives for success in everything they do, O'Malley says.

"Being successful in the kitchen is one aspect of that," O'Malley says. "It's aimed at people who want to use cooking as a way to show success to whoever they're cooking for--that their dish turns out the way they want it."

The television ads will run on prime-time network programming and specialized cable networks like The Food Network, American Movie Channel and Home & Garden Television. The print ads will run in the April and May issues of women's lifestyle magazines.