WASHINGTON,
Dec. 2, 2015 - In October 2013, the Produce Marketing Association and the
Partnership for a Healthier America (the non-profit arm of first lady Michelle
Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign) announced a collaboration with an unlikely
organization: the Sesame Street Workshop. PMA wanted to get kids hooked on
fruits and vegetables early; so did PHA, which brokers public-private
partnerships to end childhood obesity. And Sesame
Street’s mission has always included using media to improve children’s
education and health outcomes. (In fact, Cookie Monster stopped
eating cookies in 2005.)
The
resulting “eat brighter!” campaign allows produce suppliers and
retailers to use Sesame Street characters on their labels — royalty free. “Just
imagine what will happen when we take our kids to the grocery store, and they
see Elmo and Rosita and the other Sesame Street Muppets they love up and down
the produce aisle,” Michelle Obama said during the program’s launch.
A year
after the characters began appearing on produce labels and in grocery store
displays, parents no longer have to imagine — the data is in. Fifty-one
suppliers, including a number of promotional boards, are licensed to use Sesame
Street characters in their marketing materials. Of those, 78 percent have seen
an increase in sales branded with “eat brighter!” labels. Overall, sales by
suppliers are up an average 3 percent since last year.
“Anecdotally…,
we’re hearing from retailers and suppliers that consumers like this,” says
Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations at PMA. “It’s a real help for
moms.”
Means says
the that program has saved fruit and vegetable suppliers hundreds of thousands
of marketing dollars by offering the use of Elmo, Grover, Big Bird and other
characters basically for free, after paying a $950 administrative fee. (She
notes that produce does not have a promotional program like the commodity
checkoffs.)
Research
suggested that the Sesame Street strategy would work. A 2012 study published in
the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that children were twice as
likely to select an apple for lunch if the fruit had an Elmo sticker on it. A study completed in 2010 in the Netherlands found that
placing cartoon characters on a package of chopped bananas gets kids as excited
about eating them as a package of banana candy.
But familiar children’s media characters are often used to sell
non-produce; in 2008, the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that 91 percent of all food advertisements are for food or
beverages high in fat, sodium or added sugar.
“Our
inspiration is big consumer brands — their tactics are relentless, compelling,
catchy and drive an emotional connection with their products,” Drew Nannis,
PHA’s chief marketing officer, wrote in an email. “Now, we're doing the same
thing for fruits and veggies, which have never had an opportunity to act like a
big brand. Until now. “
Wisconsin-based
Skogen’s Festival Food is one of 18 retailers that have taken advantage of the
partnership by posting their own branded “eat brighter!” posters in the produce
aisles. The company “doesn’t really measure” the campaign’s efficacy through
produce sales, says Skogen dietician Lauren
Lindsley, but she believes that Sesame
Street is getting families more excited about produce.
“It does
reach that [two- to five-year-old] age group,” Lindsley says. “But I think it’s
way more than that. I know people who are my age, and it brings back memories
of watching Sesame Street. … Kids,
parents even millennials see [the characters] as a lovable and trusting brand,
and associate that with fresh fruits and vegetables.”
The Sesame Street partnership is just one of several renewed marketing efforts
initiated by PHA and the produce industry. PHA launched the FNV brand (for
Fruit ‘N’ Veggies) in February, which tries to leverage the power of celebrity through hip social
media campaigns to make produce look as slick as brands like Nike or
Coca Cola. Participants include Jessica Alba, Nick Jonas, pro quarterbacks Cam
Newton and Colin Kaepernick and NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
Last
month, PMA and the Entertainment Resource Marketing Association announced a
partnership to promote the use of fruits and vegetables in film and television
shows. Rather than a greasy meal of fast food, for example, your favorite TV
characters might chow down on salads in the near future.
“We
believe that marketing works,” says PMA’s Means. “It’s all about marketing.”
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com