• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 18, 2012

The Planters NUT-rition Peanut Butter line, launched in July, has teamed with car-sharing company Zipcar for a novel promotion that engages consumers in real-world “adventures” as well as through social and online media. 

Why Zipcar? 

The core target audience for NUT-rition Peanut Butter -- the first national PB brand to add ingredients like granola, nuts, raisins, berries and bananas -- is adults 35 to 55 who are active, health-oriented and enjoy “everyday adventures,” and Zipcar’s membership shares those characteristics, Jon Hall, brand manager at Kraft Foods, tells Marketing Daily.

The hub of the NUT-rition Peanut Butter/Zipcar “Every Day Local Adventures Zipstagram Contest” is a “Daring Detours” site where consumers (not limited to current Zipcar members) can find lists of and locations/maps for about a dozen “adventures” within each of the 14 U.S. major metro markets where Zipcar operates. The adventures, which include all kinds of local popular attractions and activities (parks, historic landmarks, sports activities, etc.) were chosen by Zipcar’s local marketing managers. 

To enter, consumers go to one or more adventure locations, and use Instagram to check in and upload photos of themselves taken at the locations. The photos need to be geo-tagged and captioned with the hashtags #NUTritionPB and #zipcar. 

At the end of the contest period (running from Oct. 9 through Nov. 16), Zipcar judges will select up to 200 winners, based on how well entries convey “a sense of adventure,” to receive a $25 Zipcar driving credit. In addition, the person who submits the most entries from different adventure locations will win a grand prize of free Zipcar driving for a year.

Visitors to the Daring Detours site can also download a $1 coupon for NUT-rition Peanut Butter. (In addition, Zipcar locations will give out a total of 9,000 sample jars of NUT-rition PB to customers.)

Consumers are being driven to the site with the contest and coupon offer through several channels, according to Hall. “Ticket to Adventure” stubs that bear QR codes that link to the site are being placed in the cup holders in Zipcars across the country. In addition, Zipcar is sending its members promotional emails, Zipcar’s regional managers are tweeting their local followers, and Planters is getting the word out through its Mr. Peanut Facebook page (which currently has 495,000-plus “likes”).

The promotion with Zipcar, developed by Starcom, is one part of an ambitious launch campaign for NUT-rition Peanut Butter, developed by the Being (NY) agency.

The campaign, which is themed “The Most Daring PB Ever Attempted” and features Mr. Peanut and his adventurous stunt double, “Peanut Butter Doug,” spans print (lifestyle and sporting magazines), digital advertising (including Rodale’s Men’s Health and Women’s Health sites), social media and sampling events.

The events include some 2,000 NUT-rition “Everyday Adventures” parties that will be hosted in homes around the country on Oct. 20 through House Party -- events that will veer from standard HP events because attendees will engage in outdoor activities like hikes or jogs before going inside to have their sampling parties, says Hall.

In addition, samples of the peanut butter, which comes in three varieties, will be given out at races sponsored by Women’s Health and Men’s Health. (Earlier this year, Planters partnered with Rodale to launch a Men’s Health-branded NUT-rition snack mix product.)

The launch of the NUT-rition Peanut Butter line follows the launch last June of Planters’ first classic peanut-butter products, in Creamy and Crunchy varieties. Those, too, are being marketed primarily to adults, based on Kraft’s research showing that adults actually consume about two-thirds of the nearly $2 billion worth of peanut butter currently sold annually in the U.S.

Peanut butter -- a tasty, high-protein food that’s also relatively inexpensive -- saw sales thrive through the recession and has been showing category sales gains of 4% to 6% in the past couple of years. 

Little wonder, then, that Kraft/Planters is “very excited” about the PB category, says Hall. “We’re just getting started,” he declares.