Honey Maid: This Is Wholesome [video]

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: HONEY MAID
Product/Service: SNACKS
Agency: DROGA5 New York, USA
Client: HONEY MAID
PR Agency : WEBER SHANDWICK Chicago, USA
Production Company : JEFFERSON Los Angeles, USA
Production Company 2 : BRAINWASH FILMS Santa Monica, USA
Creative Chairman: David Droga (Droga5)
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer (Droga5)
Executive Creative Directors: Kevin Brady (Droga5)
Senior Copywriter: Nathan Lennon (Droga5)
Senior Art Director: David Gibson (Droga5)
Chief Creation Officer: Sally/Ann Dale (Droga5)
Head Of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies (Droga5)
Broadcast Producer: Bill Berg (Droga5)
Head Of Brand Strategy: Ted Florea (Droga5)
Brand Strategy Director: Matthew Springate (Droga5)
Group Communications Strategy Director: Colleen Leddy (Droga5)
Account Director: Jodi Mcleod (Droga5)
Directors: Martin/Lindsay (Brainwash/Jefferson)
Director Of Photography: Carlos Veron (Brainwash/Jefferson)
Executive Producer: John Marias (Brainwash/Jefferson)
Producer: Tanya Stephens (Brainwash/Jefferson)
Lost Planet Editorial: Christopher Huth (Editor)
Executive Vice President: Lauren Danis (Weber Shandwick)
Director: Caroline Lainio (Weber Shandwick)
Group Manager: Nicholas Goodwin (Weber Shandwick)
Describe the campaign/entry:
Honey Maid is an iconic American brand that’s been part of families’ lives for nearly 90 years. But despite a high nostalgia factor, awareness and affinity had faded. It was seen as old-fashioned. We needed to make it relevant again.
So we launched a new campaign, This is Wholesome, which recognized that, over time, Honey Maid and the families who enjoy its products have evolved. But just as Honey Maid’s products are still made with wholesome ingredients, the wholesome connections that make family, family also haven’t changed.
We launched with TV and online documentaries featuring real modern families (a same-sex family, mixed race family and a single dad) and used banner advertising and a strategic PR plan to further drive awareness.
The social community responded, mostly positively but mixed with some negative replies. We stood behind our message with the ultimate display of wholesome: a film that turned the negative into love.
Using social listening, we seeded the video by sharing a link to the new film with everyone who had supported the initial campaign - first consumers and then media outlets. We hit three million views in just four days and the story was picked up by every major news outlet, accruing 115 million media impressions. After 90 years, we made the brand top of mind (Google search of Honey Maid increased 402%) and made the public fall in love with Honey Maid once again.
Describe the brief from the client:
Our target was families, specifically those with children aged 2-12. The parents we spoke to had grown up with Honey Maid and had fond memories of making S’mores, but they’d lost touch with the brand or saw it as something for only special occasions.
From our brand tracker we determined that we needed to:
- Increase overall awareness and drive brand engagement to make Honey Maid more top of mind
- Drive consideration of Honey Maid as an everyday snack by communicating our full range of products
- Fuel brand reappraisal (from old-fashioned to modern/brand for me)
Results:
Output/Awareness: Since launch, search has increased at least 14 times the volume of any period since 2009.
We accrued 335 million impressions (PR and social alone). The launch video was viewed over 5 million times and the love video 3.5 million. The love video was shared 273,990 times across platforms.
Fan bases increased: Facebook +10% and Twitter +12,000 (from a base of zero). Social engagement increased 19 times over the previous years’ average.

Knowledge/Consideration: Purchase intent for those who have seen the campaign is nearly 10% higher than for those who haven’t.

Action/business impact: We have yet to receive full sales data on the campaign, but when compared to the three weeks in March prior to the campaign launch, the first two weeks of the campaign showed a reverse in the sales decline, increasing in-store dollar and volume sales by +3% and +10% respectively.

Execution:
TV and online documentaries launched at 1am on March 10, followed by the USA Today exclusive at 6am. Our news room immediately started to respond to social commentary and incoming PR requests and remained active for launch week. On the 11th, we began proactive outreach to other titles to continue fueling the conversation.

As we monitored reactions, we noticed that the overwhelming majority were positive (much more than expected). This led to the creation of the Love film, a piece of content created to sustain social conversation, reaffirm our message and thank our fans. At launch (April 3rd) we responded via Twitter to campaign supporters (consumers first, followed by media) with a link to the film. This kicked off a viral pickup by consumers and media alike.

The Situation:
Honey Maid is an iconic American brand that’s been part of American families’ lives for over 90 years. But over time people had forgotten about us and awareness of the brand had faded. It was seen as old-fashioned and only for one occasion: S’mores.

We needed to make the brand relevant again and bring back the love by showing that today’s Honey Maid product line is for today’s modern family, across a variety of everyday snacking occasions.

The Strategy:
With a close eye on public response to preceding campaigns featuring diverse families, we crafted the story to be rooted in celebration of all families.

To help drive the story, we launched with an exclusive in USA Today, which disseminated a narrative about the real face of today’s modern family and the role of inclusive advertising to reflect reality.

Then we conducted strategic outreach and drove conversation via top-tier media, influential digital targets and targeted niche outlets focused on supporting inclusive families. Real-time social encouraged supporters to share their #thisiswholesome family photos.

For the Love film, we wanted to sustain social conversation. So we seeded the video, using social listening to respond to everyone who had positively commented about the initial campaign with a link to the new film. This response included media outlets that had originally covered the campaign, which kicked off media interest and drove additional coverage.