Kraft Canada continues to spread its brand across the country, this time with a television campaign, online contest, and cross-country tour to promote its peanut butters.
For the fourth year, Kraft is running its “Spread the Feeling” event and advertising campaign, which has helped lift sales since it launched in 2007.
What started as a Toronto-based partnership between Kraft and local food banks eventually grew to include out-of-home ads and a six-city tour called “Spread the Feeling with Free Hugs” developed by MacLaren Momentum.
“We started with this idea of ‘spread the feeling’ – this insight that there is a wonderful experience that we know consumers have when they eat and enjoy Kraft Peanut Butter, that warmth and feeling of home that we wanted to further celebrate and share with consumers and spread that feeling across Canada,” said Anne Farragher, brand manager for Kraft Peanut Butter.
During each “Hug” event, the company donates one jar of peanut butter to local food banks for every hug given to the Kraft Peanut Butter mascot bears (named Smoothie and Crunchy). Kraft is supporting each event through social media and with media outreach from Edelman.
This year, Kraft scaled back its out-of-home executions to include only one billboard along Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway in favour of two 30-second television commercials from Toronto agency DraftFCB. MediaVest handled the buy.
Farragher said attendees of the “Hug” events often share their favourite stories of what the brand means to them, and the television commercials help stimulate that conversation on a grander scale.
“TV was the best mass medium to share this message,” she said.
One commercial shows two little boys in the kitchen making a sandwich. One spreads peanut butter on a single slice of bread, while his friend spreads jam on another piece. With bread in hand, the two boys high-five to create a PB+J sandwich. The second ad shows children making their mother breakfast in bed.
Each commercial drives viewers to SpreadTheFeeling.ca where they can share their peanut butter stories for the chance to win $10,000. Fifty videos have been submitted so far. A panel of agency partners will eventually narrow the list down to 10 finalists. The voting process is then handed over to the Canadian public to select a winner, who can keep the prize money, or donate it to family, friends or charity.
Trapeze developed the contest as well as the online portion of the campaign including the website, online videos and advertising.
