After a successful first run last year, Kraft Foods' Barnum's Animals Crackers brand is expanding a cause-related promotion with partner Lilly Pulitzer for 2011.
Last spring, Barnum's distributed 1 million co-branded special boxes of its crackers -- featuring a fanciful, pastel-colors Lilly Pulitzer design -- in Pulitzer's 75 franchised Signature Stores, 16 corporate stores and Pulitzer areas within major, upscale department store chains.
The promotion, which highlighted a $100,000 donation (not tied to sales) to the World Wildlife Federation's efforts to save endangered Asian tigers by the Barnum's brand, produced a "healthy" sales lift for Barnum's, along with building its awareness among socially conscious consumers, reports Basil Maglaris, Kraft associate director, corporate affairs.
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"The passion among Lilly Pulitzer fans created tremendous buzz as people found the product in stores and reported the news back to their friends and social networks," Maglaris says.
This year, 1.5 million boxes are being distributed in Pulitzer-branded outlets. Barnum's will make a donation (amount not being publicly specified) to the Urban Arts Partnership, reflecting the Pulitzer brand's 2011 "Lily Loves the Arts" theme. The Urban Arts Partnership sponsors interdisciplinary arts programs through school, professional development and summer programs, as well as other venues.
Like last year, awareness is being driven primarily through social media, including Pulitzer's Facebook and Twitter presences and promotions of the special boxes/donations program on Kraft's Facebook/ Twitter pages. The effort will also see some exposure on the Pulitzer and Nabisco World sites.
Given last year's buzz surrounding where Pulitzer fans could find the Barnum's special-edition boxes, this year's program includes a new "Cracker Tracker" app: a map showing the retail locations with a tool that lets users zero in on the closest location to them by entering their ZIP codes.
In addition, Pulitzer stores are displaying promotional signage and handing out packages offering various "fun" giveaways.