• by Steve Ellwanger , October 2, 2019

Happy Family Organics shot black-and-white videos of the company’s families and friends for its latest national brand campaign, titled “Happiness Wins,” in which children’s health and happiness trump all of life’s daily trials and tribulations.

Video shoots for the digital-only campaign for the baby foods brand, which breaks today, took place in families’ homes and play spaces using parent-operated cameras concealed in everyday objects — including play sets, trains, crib toys and a furry pink puppet. No actors were involved.

In one spot, a drooling infant with a food-splotched but smiling face bangs his hands on a glass table as the voiceover says, “Messy, meet happy. We think you two are going to get along just fine.”

The black-and-white format is meant to be a break from “super flashy” colors that can distract viewers from brand messaging, according to Erica Messina, vice president of marketing and ecommerce at Happy Family, whose two sons appear in one spot. Instead, the focus is on words, smiles and expressions.

“If you look across the baby food category and largely within any baby category, not just food, the norm is super-gooey, oversaturated, tons of colors,” Messina tells Marketing Daily. “We wanted to break through in a unique way by stripping away some of the things that can be distracting and really focus in on the sweetness and happiness of the moments that we’re portraying with real authenticity.”

The campaign is based on a national study Happy Family commissioned to determine what defines a “good life” for adults. Among other findings, the study revealed a cultural shift away from “having a lot of money and possessions” to “a life of meaning, connection and purpose.” Some 95% of parents surveyed agreed that “achieving overall happiness despite life’s challenges” is most important to living a good life.

In addition to social media and digital platforms like YouTube, Happy Family spots will appear on Hulu and other streaming services. “There is a considerable amount of retargeting techniques that Hulu offers that we thought were very important to us given our core demographic,” says Messina.

About 90% of Happy Family’s sales are offline and 10% online, with Amazon being “a very, very large partner within our group of partners,” Messina says.

Although food giant Danone SA acquired a 92% stake in the company in 2013, from a branding and marketing perspective Happy Family “operates quite separately from Danone," says Messina. "And that’s actually something that they prefer because we end up being an inspiration house and an incubator type approach for them.”

Happy Family is the largest organic baby food brand in the United States, with 31.5% of dollar sales for the year-to-date period ended Sept. 8, according to IRI.