A New Approach To Food Marketing Came to The Super Bowl, And It's Great

Articles
February 09, 2016

Who pulled off the most unique and smartest marketing campaign for this year's Super Bowl?

Originally appeared on Forbes.com.

The reviews of the Super Bowl, the halftime show and the commercials have not been very complimentary. However, there is one standout that the food world needs to pay attention to, and all its advertising, PR, social media and marketing folks. I loved the Heinz family dachshunds spot, but that wasn’t the one — it was one that played on your mobile device.

The California Avocado Commission was brilliant and showed us the future of food marketing and connecting to shoppers – especially those elusive Millenials and Gen Z’ers. Every time a food or beverage ad aired during the Super Bowl, regardless of the brand or type of food or beverage, they posted a video on Twitter showing how California avocados would pair with it—everything from Budweiser beer to Mars’ Snickers candy bars.

Their agency, MullenLowe, developed nine recipe videos that were fun, fast paced and made the food pairings look delicious. The combo of Chef Cassandre Bailleau and Creative Director Margaret Keene made magic. “Our big epiphany was swapping out butter for creamy California Avocados,” Keene told Adweek. “Then the recipes really came together. It became a crazy, impromptu cooking show. We kept challenging her with ingredients like Skittles, Budweiser, and Pepsi, and she magically made the recipes delicious.”

This a best practice for food brands and food retailers, especially those with one hour delivery or those connected to Instacart, should be inspired and quickly follow California Avocado’s lead. The lesson learned is that the way to drive impulse purchases have changed – the how, where and why; and that by being proactive in real time with unique fun ideas you can build sales with just the touch of a button on your mobile device.