Milling & Baking News - September 9, 2008 - 17

Industry Activities

New Grain Foods campaign adds
cost savings to healthful message
RIDGWAY, COLO. - Consumer
spending cutbacks in an uncertain
economic environment have prompted a shift in the approach taken by the
Grain Foods Foundation in its efforts to
promote bread and other flour-based
foods. In its fall campaign,
to be launched Sept. 10 in
New York, the advantages
of "brown bagging" will be
promoted - the economic
and caloric savings possible when consumers pack
their own lunch.
According to the Foundation, the emphasis on
bagged lunches cuts to
the heart of a dominant
and growing consumer
behavior.
Citing
NPD
Group
data, the Foundation said,
"Brown bagging has become more popular than
ever with American consumers expected to carry
some 8.5 billion brown bag
lunches this year."
Elaborating on the data,
the Foundation said two
thirds of women pack a
lunch for themselves, a figure expected to grow. This
projection was based on
an August Harris Interactive Survey conducted on
behalf of the Grain Foods
Foundation in which 37%
of women surveyed said
they plan to pack their own
lunch more often in the
coming year than in the past year.
In the Brown Bag Campaign, the
Grain Foods Foundation will be encouraging consumers to pack their
own lunches with an on-line savings
tool to help consumers track the money they are saving and the calories
they are cutting by packing a lunch.
In its campaign, the Foundation
is partnering with Kate Gosselin,
who is the mother in "Jon and Kate
Plus Eight," a popular reality show
about a family with six-year-old
twins and two-year-old sextuplets.
According to the Foundation, Ms.
Gosselin will "provide brown bagging tips that make it easy for moms
to pack a healthy, affordable and
satisfying lunch for themselves and
their families."
Judi Adams, president of the Foun18 / September 9, 2008

Milling & Baking News

dation, emphasized the degree to
which a bagged lunch hits a sweet spot
for the grain-based foods industry.
"Grains are an ideal choice at lunch
since they provide much-needed energy and sustenance to make it through

the day," Ms. Adams said. "Plus, grain
foods such as sandwiches, pretzels,
crackers and granola bars are convenient, delicious and portable, making
them brown bag friendly."
The launch of the campaign is
timed to coincide with the new school
year. In addition to print advertising, which has been a mainstay of
past G.F.F. campaigns, on-line banner advertising will be a focus this
year. Web sites such as About.com,
AllRecipes.com, FoodNework.com
and MyRecipes.com will feature the
G.F.F. message. The on-line placement will use interactive Internet
advertising technology that allows
web surfers to engage with the G.F.F.
campaign using their mouse to hover
above the banner ad. Once users click
on the ad, they will be able to use the

annual cost and calorie calculator.
Full page advertisements will be
placed in the October, November
and December issues of Cooking Light
magazine.
"The advertising component of the
campaign drives consumers to grainpower.org to track their financial and
caloric savings as well as to enter to
win free groceries for a year," the
Foundation said.
Ms. Gosselin will
participate in a G.F.F.
national
publicity
tour, promoting the
value of packing a
lunch that includes
grain-based
foods.
Her participation will
include television, radio and newspaper
interviews.
The fall campaign
is the first since 2005
by the G.F.F. that does
not feature a recipe
contest. Last year, consumers were invited
to submit recipes for a
healthy snack and in
2006 healthy sandwich
recipes were solicited.
The shift to brown
bagging also represents a larger move
from the health-andwellness-centric approach of the G.F.F.
campaigns in earlier
years.
While
the healthfulness of
grain-based foods remains a core strategy
of the message in the
2008 campaign, it is
the economy of grain-based foods
that has emerged as a theme.
"When we began several years ago,
the industry still was dealing with the
aftermath of the Atkins diet, and the
image of bread and grain-based foods
needed to be repaired," said Kristin L.
Patterson of Mullen, the public relations agency engaged by the G.F.F. "As
consumer perceptions of grain-based
foods have improved, we have been
able to augment our message with a
topic of increasing concern to target
audience - the rising cost of living."
The Harris survey conducted by
the Foundation showed that 81% of
women indicated that money was the
principal reason they packed their
lunch. Women with children at home
are more likely to pack a lunch (71%)
than those without (59%). MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
http://www.power.org http://www.About.com http://www.AllRecipes.com http://www.FoodNework.com http://www.MyRecipes.com http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com
Milling & Baking News - September 9, 2008

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