It’s time to look at the shortlist for Marketer of the Year, which appears in Marketing’s Nov. 28 issue. We’ll be featuring each one online as a lead-up to our January 2012 issue, where you’ll find out which marketer will reign supreme.
Maple Leaf Foods
It regained some goodwill for its transparency and quick response after a listeria outbreak in 2008, and spent 2011 wining back confidence
Stephen Graham, chief marketing officer at Maple Leaf Foods, wants the company to one day be “Canada’s most-admired brand.”
It’s a lofty goal for a man who was hired by the Toronto-based food company in 2009 as part of a brand restoration project following a deadly listeria outbreak the year before that killed 22 people.
At the time, Maple Leaf Foods was praised for its openness and quick response, and vowed to win back consumer confidence with a renewed focus on product innovation and marketing communications.
The company spent the last year making good on its promise by introducing healthier and more convenient products across many of its brands, including Schneiders, Dempster’s and Prime. And consumers have responded.
In this year’s Marketing/Leger Corporate Reputation survey, Maple Leaf Foods made considerable gains, jumping 30 spots from the year before to No. 56.
“That kind of crisis can be a watershed moment and it allowed Stephen and his team to rally around strong consumer communications,” says Arthur Fleischmann, president of Toronto ad agency John St., which works on all of Maple Leaf’s meat business.
“All of the key attribute ratings around trust and taste and a good brand, all of those numbers have gone up dramatically,” says Fleischmann. “And I think it’s because Maple Leaf Foods has a much more cohesive approach to communication.”
Over the past year, Maple Leaf Foods also launched multi-platform campaigns and introduced new products for its Olivieri brand of fresh pasta and sauces as well as its Prime chicken label.
The company ramped up its social media activities, led by an internal digital team of four (soon to be five). One program, to drive trial of Olivieri, offered coupons on Facebook. Within 24 hours, 10,000 coupons had been downloaded by fans.
In June, the company launched a television commercial for its Prime chicken label to show how great food can bring families together to create lasting memories. The 30-second spot is made up of vignettes featuring different kinds of families—a mother and daughter, a boyfriend and girlfriend, a family of four—that include varying ethnicities. All are seen bonding at mealtime.
“We’re all living very hectic lives, but dinner for a lot of people is still sacred,” says Andrew Pollock, senior vice-president marketing and innovation, consumer foods at Maple Leaf Foods. “It’s the time of day when you have a pause and can connect with the people in your family… And that’s absolutely the mood we tried to convey.”
There’s more! Check out the Nov. 28 issue of Marketing for the full profile, and subscribe to find out who will be named the Marketer of the Year for 2011.
