• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 6, 2010

Kraft continues to build on the momentum of its Macaroni & Cheese brand, which is enjoying a sales boom as a result of consumers' focus on economical comfort foods.

The latest news is the rollout of a new logo and contemporized package designs featuring a "noodle smile" intended to elicit positive emotions and memories associated with the iconic, 73-year-old brand.

The smile is the key element in a new, cross-portfolio visual identity created with branding/design firm Landor Associates, in development since spring 2009. The new look began to appear on Kraft's new Homestyle mac and cheese line and smaller-volume products within the brand's portfolio over the summer, but is just starting to be seen on the flagship Blue Box line -- the original flavor Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner and its sister varieties. The new package design will be fully rolled out by first-quarter 2011, reports Alberto Huerta, senior marketing director, meals, Kraft Foods North America.

Both the noodle smile and its use as a unifying element in the logo now being used across the brand portfolio reflect consumer research. "Smiles, joy and happiness" were consumers' key associations for the brand, and they also made it clear that in their minds, the three product lines then within the portfolio -- Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, Deluxe and the microwaveable products originally named Easy Mac Cups -- as a single mac and cheese brand.

"So we listened to them, and provided them with the 'smile,' as well as making it easier for them to find all three while shopping" by incorporating the logo on all of the products, notes Hania Midura, director of design and innovation, grocery, Kraft Foods North America.

"We had been treating them separately, but we recognized through consumers that there was a huge opportunity to accelerate the long-term, sustainable growth of this key Kraft brand by treating it as an iconic mega-brand," adds Huerta.

In addition to the logo, this unified approach spurred a name change for the microwaveable cups, to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Cups. Those products, launched in 2006, are now generating over $100 million in sales, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The consumer branding research also ultimately helped inform the current "You know you love it" integrated campaign, from Crispin Porter & Bogusky, that was launched in May and focuses on tapping the sales potential for adult consumption of the brand's products. "We realized that, while adults love [the original dinners], we were making them feel that this was a food meant for kids," says Huerta. "The new campaign reflects the strategic direction of broadening our appeal to adults and the family as a whole."

The Homestyle line launched this past spring, which includes breadcrumbs and is more akin to the "home-made"-like mac and cheese versions served in restaurants, also emerged from this broadened strategy.

As it rolls out the noodle-smile graphic and logo on packaging, Kraft has also been featuring these in the "You know you love it" campaign efforts, in formats ranging from billboards with teaser copy (examples: "Outgrow outgrowing it" and "The most fun you can have with your stove on"), to interactive online ads that smile back at users through their computer Web cams, to giant noodle-smile sculptures placed in high-visibility locations like San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf and Boston's Faneuil Hall.

The macaroni and cheese category as a whole has seen sales jump by 25% during the past four years, to $802 million, reported the Chicago Tribune. As of late August, sales of the heavily dominant Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner products were up 8% over 2009 to $645 million, per SymphonyIRI Group data (which excludes Walmart and club-store sales). And that's on top of double-digit increases that began as far back as mid-2008.

The brand, which was launched during the Depression, has a track record of experiencing surges during tough economic times. Sales also jumped in 1990, for example.