• by Larissa Faw , October 12, 2015

Most frozen food brands focus their messaging on convenience and satiety, but ConAgra is repositioning its Bertolli brand to celebrate its Italian roots through the "Don't Just Eat. Mangia!" campaign.

Developed by DDB California, the campaign coincides with October’s Italian Heritage Month, as well as Bertolli’s 150^th anniversary this year. The centerpiece of the campaign is “Mangia,” which means "to eat” in Italian and encompasses company founder Francesco Bertolli’s philosophy that “There is nothing more beautiful than sharing great food, conversation, and laughter ."

"Bertolli celebrates the entire Mangia experience around the meal--including great company, laughter, and conversation. It's entirely ownable to Bertolli and will drive the brand for years to come," says Michael Bukzin, account director at DDB California. 

The campaign also serves up an alternative approach for a category typically known for formulaic advertising and heavy use of claims. By separating itself from traditional frozen food products, Bertolli will help differentiate itself as something other than frozen food. "Mangia taps into a cultural tension about how Americans can make meals matter by dining the Italian way," says Bukzin.  

The campaign consists of TV and digital initiatives, as well as consumer promotions, in-store, social and PR elements. Two TV spots shot in docu-real style, “Dance” and “Patio,” show two couples enjoying the experience of cooking together, and "not having to slow down in order to make memories." 

View the spots here and here.

The effort expands in November to introduce a new Mangia microsite to encourage consumers to share their #mangiamoment with friends. To drive traffic and awareness, a network of bloggers will share similar videos and pictures, encouraging their readers to "frame the night." These bloggers will host Mangia Kit giveaways to reward their readers for sharing their #Mangiamoment. Three hundred winners will receive a Mangia Kit while five winners will receive a trip to wine country in California.

With the campaign, Bertolli is shifting from a "penetration" to a "frequency" strategy. "We are talking to our core consumer - 2.4 million heavy loyals, 35+, 2-3 person household," says Bukzin. "She measures her wealth in experiences, which are far more valuable to her than material things, and she treasures the beauty of simple moments. 

The target has evolved from the last campaign where we were focused on reaching light or lapsed users of Bertolli frozen meals to grow household penetration. This year we are focused on getting our heavy loyals who already purchase Bertolli skillet meal approximately eight times per year to buy one more."

Bertolli has spent only $1.6 million on advertising during the first six months of 2015, down from $8.1 million for the same period a year ago.  In 2014, the frozen food brand's advertising budget was $11.8 million, according to Kantar Media. 

DDB has worked with Bertolli since 2012. The agency also represents other ConAgra brands including Marie Callender’s, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-Wip, Banquet, PAM, Hunts, RoTel, Chef Boyardee, and Alexia.