Tired of Tradition, Honey Maid’s Marketing Chief Chose to Put the Spotlight on Modern Families

Posted in Articles, Communications/Media Studies, Media Archive, United States on 2015-10-19 18:14Z by Steven

Tired of Tradition, Honey Maid’s Marketing Chief Chose to Put the Spotlight on Modern Families

Adweek
2015-10-18

T.L. Stanley


Gary Osifchin, Honey Maid portfolio lead, Mondelez Photo: Sasha Maslov

Adweek’s 2015 Brand Genius winner for CPG/food

It always seemed strange to Gary Osifchin that the characters in traditional advertising were so, well, traditional. “There was the Caucasian female lead, with the French manicure,” Osifchin says, “or the black guy in a secondary role only.”

TV spots had been this way for years, but Osifchin recognized a problem with it. “How,” he asks, “can consumers connect with [your brand] if that’s all you’re showing?”

That nagging question led Honey Maid and its agency Droga5 to break with decades of standard practice. In 2014, packaged foods giant Mondelēz sought to overhaul Honey Maid, a household name and a staple in American pantries. Getting consumers to take a fresh look at a 90-year-old brand of graham crackers would require a truly different approach.

So, it went in search of 21st century families—gay, single-parent, mixed-race and immigrant, for example. There were no actors, just regular people shot in a documentary-style for TV spots, digital shorts and other content under the tagline “This is wholesome.”…

Read the entire article here.

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