• by Karl Greenberg , July 23, 2007

Sara Lee Food & Beverage, is launching a promotional grassroots campaign supporting its new "Soft & Smooth 100% Honey Wheat Bread." The effort aims to both detail the wheat content of Sara Lee's enriched breads and to educate consumers about the actual wheat content of competitive enriched wheat brands.

The campaign, by the Downers Grove, Ill.-based company, will detail the whole grain content of its enriched white and enriched wheat breads and suggest that its breads--white and wheat--are just as crunchy as overtly whole-wheat bread.

"Sara Lee is taking the lead in providing straightforward information about whole grains across our product portfolio--our enriched white and wheat products as well as our 100% whole wheat products--a first in our industry. We owe it to consumers to be clear about the nutritional profile of our products," said Bill Nictakis, president, Sara Lee Food & Beverage's U.S. Fresh Bakery unit, in a release.

The Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Great Whole Grain Giveaway includes thejoyofeating.com, social networking hosted at www.cafemom.com, media, a product sampling push that includes 2.5 million loaves and grassroots events around the country, culminating with a national back-to-school event.

The new bread follows the company's launch over the past two years of Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread and Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread.

As part of the campaign, Sara Lee will give away 2.5 million loaves of the new bread in over 100 markets at Minor League Baseball games, shopping malls and movie theaters across the country. There will also be an eight-city "Joy of Lunchboxes Road Trip" about whole grain and whether one's brand is made with whole grain or not, supported with a toll-free number.

The campaign is the largest public-education effort to date by the company. The company began consumer education efforts around whole wheat bread in March, when it partnered with Chandra Wilson, who plays the Miranda Bailey surgeon on "Grey's Anatomy."