Direct Marketing
Budget: $1,125,000 (7.5% of total budget)
Objective: Increase brand awareness to target segments as we educate them on the benefits on Annie’s Mac & Cheese, as compared to our competitors
Print Media: Will focus mainly on magazine advertising placement with minimal allocation to newspapers
- Magazines for parents/families:
- FamilyFun
- Parents
- Good Housekeeping
- Cooking Light
- Foodnetwork Magazine
- Magazines for students/young adults:
- Seventeen
- Teen Vogue
- Teen People
- Geographic Scope: Nationwide
- Scheduling Pattern: We will be using a pulsing pattern, stepping up marketing efforts, geared towards parents/families, during the back to school season.
Billboard and Transit Advertisements:
- Advertisements will be strategically placed on buses, billboards, subways, trolleys, airports, and busy intersections
- Geographic Scope: We’ll be targeting San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Portland as those are the most organic driven cities.
- Scheduling Pattern: Continuous
Billboard and Transit Ads:
Magazine Ads:
Magazine Ads:
Digital Marketing
Budget: $3,000,000 (20% of total budget)
Objective: Increase brand awareness and favorability towards the Annie’s brand as a whole.
Internet:
- Google AdWord Campaigns
- Influencer Marketing
- Partner with various mom blogs/bloggers to promote Annie’s on their personal blogs
- Geographic Scope: Nationwide
- Scheduling Pattern: Continuity
Social Media Ads:
Broadcast Media:
Budget: $9,750,000 (65% of total budget)
Objective: Educate the masses on Annie’s Mac & Cheese as we run a comparative ad campaign nationwide, aimed at converting current Kraft and Velveeta customers to Annie’s.
Geographic Scope: Nationwide
Scheduling Pattern: Pulsing, stepping up efforts during the back to school season.
Tactics:
- Advertise on popular TV shows for our target audience
- Inform audience of Annie’s being natural, organic, and GMO-free
- Educational advertising
- Celebrity endorsement
- We will hire Jillian Michaels as our product endorser to be used in TV advertisements
- The personal trainer, TV star, author, and businesswoman Jillian Michaels is a good fit for Annie’s due to her recognizability and likeability. She is a considered a major health/fitness symbol for her expertise in the health industry. After hosting The Biggest Loser she has continued her career by doing online training, a podcast, DVDs, diet books, and her signature Bodyshred program. In 2015, she was featured in a reality show, Sweat Inc., searching for the next great fitness craze. This year she'll star in Just Jillian, another reality show on E! She helped her clients lose close to a collective 5 million pounds.
Comparative Advertising
- We will push the notion that consumers should choose a healthier, more natural product instead of one with preservatives and other fake ingredients.
Broadcast Media Recommendations
- TV shows for parents
- Ellen
- The View
- Grey's Anatomy
- Rachel Ray (30 Minute Meals)
- Food Network
- The Voice
- Dr. Oz
- Dancing with the Stars
- TV shows for college students/young adults
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians
- Scream Queens
- Rob and Chyna
- Vampire Diaries
- Catfish
Television Ad: Annie's Homegrown
Sales Promotions:
Budget: $375,000 (2.5% of total budget)
Objective: To encourage non-users to purchase Annie’s and those using competitors’ brands
to switch. We want Annie’s to be in more consumers’ consideration sets
Tactics:
- Use consumer-oriented pull strategy digital and direct discount promotions to elicit a response from non-users ($1 off a box).
- Discounts/coupons will be placed in-store promotional catalogs that are emailed, handed out in stores, and sent direct via mail
Scheduling Pattern: We will schedule these promotions to run using a flighting pattern. Direct discount promotions will be sent out every other month, while in-store promotional coupons will be featured once every three months in stores such as Wegmans and Martin’s.
Public Relations
Budget: $750,000 (5% of total budget)
Objectives: To maintain social responsibility, to increase the popular perception/favorability towards Annie’s, and to further establish a positive brand image.
Tactics:
- Donate a portion of sales to cancer research during months of cancer awareness. We will use pink awareness visuals on mac & cheese boxes letting consumers know about our efforts. In February we will run the promotion for National Cancer Prevention Month as well as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.
- By giving away free macaroni and cheese products to schools we maintain social responsibility, create a positive image, and create a direct contact point for children.
- By associating Annie’s with socially responsible community projects, it will create a positive brand image. When consumers purchase a box of Annie’s macaroni and cheese they can feel good about supporting a company that gives back to the community.
a direct contact point for children.
- Geographic Scope: Nationwide
- Scheduling Pattern: We will be using a pulsing pattern, stepping up marketing efforts during breast cancer awareness month and the back to school season.
Radio Advertisements
Advertisement 1:
Do you feel comfortable serving food to your children that contain ingredients that you, as an adult, can’t even pronounce? Annie’s mac and cheese doesn’t contain any artificial products and is a naturally good source for calcium and protein. Annie’s organic products are the choice you should be making when making a snack for your children. Annie’s Mac and Cheese, naturally nutritious, delightfully delicious.
Advertisement 2:
Are you constantly spilling mac and cheese on yourself while bringing snacks on the go? Annie’s Mac and Cheese has the solution to your problems with our on-the-go, microwavable mac and cheese cups. Never worry about the mess you can make while travelling with mac and cheese ever again! When you’re on the go, choose the home-grown option. Annie’s Mac and Cheese naturally nutritious, delightfully delicious.
Press Release:
