New Marketing Strategy Engages Kids by Building Story Arc for KC
Character
OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2009--
ConAgra Foods’ Kid Cuisine® brand announced today a new,
fully integrated marketing promotion with Columbia Pictures’ “Planet 51TM”.
The animated adventure comedy opens nationwide tomorrow.
“Integrated promotions are critical for Kid Cuisine to drive kid
requests for our meals and strengthen brand equity among children. When
Kid Cuisine partners with strong licensed properties, we’ve seen
measurable sales increases,” said ConAgra Foods Vice President and
General Manager Tim Ehresman. “Because Kid Cuisine is kid-focused and
all about fun, ‘Planet 51’ and its adventurous, engaging storyline is
the perfect way to connect with our target audience.”
Kid Cuisine sales have increased 9 percent over the past 13 weeks in IRI
measured channels*. Ehresman attributes this success in part to tighter,
more integrated marketing, increased kid engagement with the brand and a
successful new line extension, the Campfire Hot Dog meal.
Through a series of television commercials that aired this summer, kids
watched the brand’s animated penguin character “KC” travel from planet
to planet in search of the best foods to take back to Earth. The latest
television commercial features Kid Cuisine’s “KC” in the “Planet 51”
animated world using scenes from the movie. The commercial, produced by
Geppetto Group, airs on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney XD, and
is available for viewing on Kidcuisine.com.
To reinforce the movie tie-in and get kids even more engaged with Kid
Cuisine, the campaign includes online advertising, two limited edition
meals, promotional packaging and a sweepstakes. The messaging asks kids
to help the brand’s KC penguin character return to Earth, just as
Astronaut Chuck is trying to do in “Planet 51.” Using codes found on Kid
Cuisine packages, kids can play six different games on Kidcuisine.com to
help KC return home. Online banner ads appearing on Nick.com and
Neopets.com also direct viewers to the online games. Kids can play daily
to win instant prizes and also be entered to win the grand prize – a
“Planet 51” screening party with all their friends. More than 35,000
plays have been recorded since the games went live in late October.
Kid Cuisine is a brand of ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG), one
of North America’s leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of
America’s households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg
Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s,
Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra
Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores.
ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying
potato, other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of
well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers.
For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
“Planet 51” is a galactic sized animated alien adventure comedy
revolving around American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker, who
lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. To
his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green
people who are happily living in a white picket fence world reminiscent
of a cheerfully innocent 1950s America, and whose only fear is that it
will be overrun by alien invaders...like Chuck! With the help of his
robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem, Chuck must navigate his
way through the dazzling, but bewildering, landscape of Planet 51 in
order to escape becoming a permanent part of the Planet 51 Alien
Invaders Space Museum.
This Kid Cuisine promotion meets the guidelines for responsible
advertising to children under 12 years of age as set forth in the
Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, sponsored by the
Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).
*As measured by Information Resources Inc., 13 weeks ending Nov. 8,
2009.
Source: ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods
Becky Niiya, 402-240-5312
becky.niiya@conagrafoods.com
www.conagrafoods.com
