A donation campaign that asks consumers to give a bear hug to Smoothie and Crunchy Peanut Butter mascots is attracting teenagers and adults who aren’t the bears’ core fan base, says Meghan Toll, product manager, Kraft Canada.
‘It’s amazing for me to see a grown man going up and hugging the bears and walking away so happy, but there’s something about it that just really speaks to people of all ages,’ she tells MiC.
Now in its third year of donating peanut butter to the Daily Bread Food Bank, Kraft has this year expanded the ‘Spread the Feeling’ campaign to seven cities across Canada and upped the donation goal to 70,000 jars. To promote the event, geo-targeted online banner ads are running across Yahoo.ca, Olive Media and AOL networks. They target consumers who live in the cities that the events are taking place in, explains Toll.
An event taking place at Ontario Place in Toronto this weekend will be promoted Friday on screens throughout the TTC during early morning and evening rush hours, explains Toll, and ads promoting the ‘Spread the Feeling’ donation events are also running in Metro daily newspapers. Meanwhile, a national OOH buy for the larger ‘Spread the Feeling’ campaign directs consumers to the brand’s website, where they can get a ‘virtual hug’ in return for a one-jar donation to the Food Bank. Media for Kraft Peanut Butter is handled by MediaVest in Toronto, while Draft FCB in Toronto developed the creative.
Peanut butter is a product that is in high demand at Daily Bread because of its nutritional value and ability to last a long time even for families with children, explains Toll.
‘I think it’s effective because it’s just such a simple concept,’ Toll says, about why she believes the donation hugs have grown so popular. ‘When we talked to consumers originally to try to find the insight for the campaign, we heard that what they really love about Kraft Peanut Butter is that they have a strong emotional connection with it.’
Honing in on that insight, she says Kraft wanted to encourage their consumers to spread that feeling, ‘and there really is no better way of doing that than with a hug.’
