#1: Leaning into the Power of PR \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Leah Broeders<\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong>Leah<\/strong>: \u201cYou may have heard that due to the pandemic, there was a shortage of our Grape Nuts. We received media inquiries asking if Grape Nuts was going to be discontinued, because the media had heard consumers asking \u2018where are Grape Nuts, I can\u2019t find it\u2019 in supermarkets. We released a response that the cereal wasn\u2019t being discontinued and that we were working to get it back on shelves.<\/p>\n Within 48 hours, we had nearly two billion consumer impressions from media outlets like the New York Times<\/em> covering The Great Grape Nuts Shortage of 2021. Consumers told us they were \u2018nuts for Grape Nuts\u2019 \u2013 so we leveraged that momentum by creating a Grape Nuts Secret Super Fans Facebook Group for fans who wanted an opportunity to engage with other Super Fans. Within another 48 hours, we had over a thousand engaged fans in that Facebook Group. They shared recipes, poems about Grape Nuts and stories on how Grape Nuts had impacted their life. Your most loyal fans can be your biggest influencers.”<\/p>\n #2 Embrace Food Marketing Trends\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Johnna Rossbach<\/strong> Johnna<\/strong>: \u201cTop of mind for us is pricing. Across food and beverage, we\u2019re heading into unprecedented cost of goods increases. It\u2019s getting attention in the media and there\u2019s an uptick of consumer conversations about price. We have to demonstrate value \u2013 people are willing to invest in food that that will satisfy a desire for escape. And with price increases, it\u2019s important that you\u2019re transparent with consumers who have bought into your brand promise. It can be an uncomfortable for marketers to talk about pricing, but you have to be ready to have honest conversations with consumers.”<\/p>\n Leah<\/strong>: \u201c My crystal ball tells me a trend that will continue is: balance. \u00a0We know there\u2019s a desire for organic and natural in every food category. But it\u2019s not always a full pendulum swing \u2013 you have the idea of permissible indulgence during the pandemic, small rewards that help deal with the stress and anxiety. The pandemic raised the desire for balance in our lives. And with food \u2013 balance means a desire to not feel guilty when you indulge a bit. That\u2019s why Post offers a cereal for everyone \u2013 from Shredded Wheat to Oreo cereal; it\u2019s about giving consumers options and a spectrum of balance.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnna<\/strong>: \u201cThe trend toward plant-based foods is relevant to Pacific because of our product portfolio. And yes, consumers are looking at vegan, and thinking about what\u2019s good overall for their health and the environment. But another food trend for us was the cultural exploration of foods. During the pandemic, consumers couldn\u2019t travel. Still, they wanted to experiment with new types of cuisines. So we saw an uptick on searches for globally inspired cuisine on our website, and that trend informed our influencer strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n #3 Learning the Art of the Pivot<\/strong><\/p>\n Leah: <\/strong>“I refer to this past pandemic year as the ultimate test of agility by marketers. As an example, Post Consumer Brands was in the third year of its sponsorship of Major League Soccer (MLS), and we had grand plans for in-person experiential. We were going to sample in retail parking lots, and activate at stadiums outside of soccer games. But as the season was delayed due to COVID, we scrambled like everyone else.<\/p>\n So we pivoted to COVID-conscious executions: moving from in-person events to Watch-at-Home packages for MLS fans. We took the swag that we were going to give out in-person and instead packaged it with our cereal and sent it to our fans to enhance their game watching from the safety of their homes. We were sponsoring a MLS player, originally for appearances and autograph signings. Instead, we pivoted to virtual breakfasts with that player over a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, during which people could talk to him about what he was experiencing with the pandemic. And these are not necessarily temporary shifts \u2013 we might continue with digital meet-ups instead of, or in addition to, in-person plans.\u201d<\/p>\n #4 Launching Successfully \u2013 Without Million Dollar Marketing Budgets<\/strong><\/p>\n Johnna<\/strong>: “Pacific Foods does not have the multi-million budgets that some of our sister brands have. We look for efficiencies. For example, Pacific has three distinct targeted audiences; and we knew we couldn\u2019t reach all of them with our budget. So we used behavioral targeting to find one shared space for all three audiences. We found that all of our consumers are intentional about their food \u2013 whether it\u2019s for environmental or personal health reasons. We developed a campaign, Pacifically Pacific, that\u2019s all about our intentionality. We knew that message would resonate with all of our consumers and give a halo effect with emerging audiences.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not a big brand, take advantage of that. The media and influencers like to feel they\u2019re on the ground floor with a new product. Think differently about \u00a0your influencers \u2013 ambassador programs are a great way to get the word out. And review programs are effective in driving trial, with those reviews helping to build credibility and get you higher up in search.\u201d<\/p>\n #5 Leverage the Power of Influencers<\/strong><\/p>\n Leah<\/strong>: “I know there aren\u2019t a lot of influencers who aren\u2019t paid, but when there are, we work with them in the cereal category. \u00a0We have some Instagram influencers that have ongoing relationships with us, and we leverage them to break things like new product news. For instance. there\u2019s a gentleman who goes by the name of\u00a0 CerealSnob<\/a> on Instagram and he has 24,000 followers who love cereal. We send influencers like him packages of swag and cereal, and they do unboxing and tastings.”<\/p>\n Johnna<\/strong>: \u201cOur sister brand SpaghettiOs leaned into Tik Tok in a big<\/em> way. The brand saw organic content coming through of Johnna<\/strong>: “There are new conversion and trial driving influencer tactics that work hard for your brand. If you\u2019re looking to support a new item at a retailer, there\u2019s some swipe-up opportunities. At Pacific, we leveraged the platform MikMak, which creates customized e-commerce experiences that take the consumer from the influencer\u2019s post to the consumer\u2019s preferred retailers where our product is available. We just got our plant-based beverages into Walmart this year, and it was important to get velocity so people could find Pacific in that aisle in Wal-Mart. Leveraging influencers and these e-commerce add-ons like MikMak was a great way to do that.”<\/p>\n Leah<\/strong>: \u201cThere\u2019s increasing skepticism with traditional paid advertising, so that\u2019s why we explore influencers who are authentic brand fans. They are not paid, although we do leverage swag with them. Malt-O-Meal is a value bagged cereal brand with tons of avid consumers, who we leverage through an ambassador program. These fans are nano influencers who are brand advocates with 700 to a few thousand followers. That\u2019s not a broad reach, but what\u2019s great is the people they\u2019re talking to are family and friends. We see a high average engagement rate with these nano influencers of 22 percent \u00a0when the industry benchmark for engagement its 3 to 5 percent.”<\/p>\n Johnna:<\/strong> \u201cThere\u2019s an incredible value to an always-on approach to influencers. You want to build advocates and fans, and when you deposit into those relationships, you can have outcomes you can\u2019t anticipate. If brands are looking to build credibility and relevancy that fits with our culture, those influencers should genuinely love your product. I know this is controversial \u2013 but I feel you shouldn\u2019t give your influencers a script, maybe not even give them a brief. Give them your product and let them do their thing; that\u2019s what you pay them to do!”<\/p>\n For a video recording of the full 45-minute Sharper Angle conversation with Leah and Johnna \u2013 moderated by Maccabee PR\u2019s SVP Christine Scherping — \u00a0click here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=frNqKIi552A<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Leah](\"https:\/\/info.maccabee.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeahBroeders-150x150.jpg\")
PR, Partnerships, Promotions and Licensing Associate Director of Post Consumer Brands<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n![\"Johnna](\"https:\/\/info.maccabee.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JohnnaRossbach-150x150.jpg\")
Senior Connected Marketing Manager with Pacific Foods<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n![\"SpaghettiOs](\"https:\/\/info.maccabee.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SpaghettiOsTikTok-300x262.jpg\")
people using SpaghettiOs in interesting hacks; there\u2019s lots of nostalgia and love among Millennials for the brand. The company turned the brand over to TikTokkers. They told this group of creators, \u2018here\u2019s our product, make content for us.\u2019 The following that SpaghettiOs created on TikTok is impressive \u2013 the brand has become relevant in a fun way. It\u2019s cool to \u00a0see what happens when marketers let go of control and give it over to creators.”<\/p>\n