Commentary

CPG Leaders Crave Ad Intel And Big Ideas

It makes sense that CPG readers are hungry for macro-intelligence, and that a story about moderating ad budgets would wind up on top of the year’s most-read CPG Insider columns. And it follows that as they threaded their way through pricing upheaval, election tumult, and loyalty shifts, they’d also devour the perspective of Gail Hollander, CMO of the J.M. Smucker Co., about staying positive to better connect with people as they fill their grocery baskets: "Our Brands Have To Be A Bright Light."

And readers couldn’t learn enough about how brands make those connections. Toxic political polarization? Johnsonville celebrates apolitical sausage in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the swing-state city that endured the heaviest level of political ad bombing in the country. "Johnsonville Offers Solace In Sausage" focused on how a local event powered a national branding effort. (Naturally, the event was hosted by a star of "The Office," Brian Baumgartner.) 

Kraft is also finding new definitions for empathy. Recognizing that Gen Z males could use a little extra comfort, the company launched an ad campaign that sent them into the woods, into the arms of a large and loving bear.

Annie’s Mac & Cheese went another way, and that grabbed readers' attention, too. With a focus on Gen Z and millennial families, the General Mills-owned brand gave more cheese and value to food-cost-focused shoppers. The company announced the change on the liveliest Gen Z channel: Food-obsessed TikTok.

Targeting those hard-to-reach Gen Z shoppers pushed other stories into the year’s Top 10, too. That included using a sense of humor, as in the campaign in which "Dr. Squatch Insures Nick Cannon's Balls For $10 Million," and using quirky, unconventional storytelling, as Heinz did with the saga of a fake heiress and some boarding-school ketchup smugglers.

Some brands looked for more personalization and interaction, as in Frito-Lay and Jack Link's offer to give Gen Z "Flavorfied" headshots.

Learning more about companies that are injecting new twists into existing categories always has strong appeal, which explains reader interest in SmartSweet’s Low-Sugar Conquest and in one of the summer’s most unlikely hits: Kraft’s pickle mayonnaise.

Next story loading loading..