School’s starting again and so is the battle. Parents and schools are trying to push healthier snack choices for their kids as alternatives to the sugary, salty options they prefer. It’s a losing proposition … unless marketers can find ways to make healthy hip.
Enter in Bolthouse Farms and 50 other growers of baby carrots. Yup. Baby carrots are about to become cool. Very cool. A recent USA Today article, “Baby carrots take on junk food with hip marketing campaign,” shows how the $1 billion dollar baby carrot business is about to take on the $18 billion salty snack food crowd on their own turf.
• For starters, how about packaging these crunchy little orange wonders in bags like salty snacks?
• How about selling them out of vending machines?
• How about putting slogans on billboards like: “The original orange doodles”?
• How about tying in carrots to kids’ seasonal interests? (e.g., “Scarrots” are planned for Halloween.)
• How about a phone app that lets kids hear people munching on carrots in real time? Or TV spots that depict baby carrots as “extreme” and futuristic?
Is this all part of a master anti-junk food campaign? According to Bolthouse Farms CEO, Jeff Dunn, it isn’t. “It takes a page out of junk food’s playbook and applies it to baby carrots.” As a former president of Coca-Cola North America, Mr. Dunn understands these concepts very well.
Will this be enough to turn kids on to a healthy snack? Some are saying “no.” Unless something is done to jazz up the carrots, kids are likely to be disappointed when the find out what’s really in these cool little snack bags. How about putting an orange, but natural dusting on the carrots so they’re more like Cheetos, psychologist Carol Moog suggests.
Snack giant Frito-Lay’s take? “We applaud any effort to provide consumers with a wider range of snacking options.” Uh-huh.
So Daily Fix readers:
• Will these marketing efforts be enough to get kids crunching on baby carrots?
• Could something else be done to put more zing into the product or packaging? How about selling carrots with a packet of cool ranch dip or a neon orange dusting, for example?
• Should the baby carrot marketers engage kids with interactive apps or contests?
What do you think?
Tags: Advertising, Innovation, Marketing
Packaging is nice, but once the kids open the cool bag, they’ll see the same old carrots. I’ve seen snack sized baby carrots that come with ranch dip, which can be high in fat; why not package baby carrots with hummus, yogurt based dip, or nut butter. I believe the best way to get kids to eat more healthily is by educating parents. Just imagine if a child was never introduced to any processed foods — that cool bag of carrots would probably look pretty enticing!
I thought you couldn’t market to kids? or are you allowed to market healthy products? (Just a question)
I think what looks good on paper to a marketer aka pretty packaging. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to kids who will probably still view them as the same.
I must say though, the dips that Jeanette says above makes ME want to buy. Perhaps they should market to teenagers who will eventually learn to know better.
Hi Ted, I think the “dusting” idea for the carrots is out, but what about changing the shape? I see corkscrew, slender cut, stars, and all kinds of shaped carrots…
Great ideas, Jeanette. It would be a dream if kids weren’t barraged with a steady stream of delectable looking salty and sugary snacks all the time, wouldn’t it? Then these carrots would look pretty good. It’s tough as parents to always say “no” and always monitor what kids are eating, but talking to them and leading by example works pretty well. . . until they get in with their peers at school. Still, having healthy family eating habits sows a seed. One that will hopefully take root for a lifetime, with a few notable lapses during the teen years! Thanks for weighing in, Jeanette. Good stuff.
Hi Phillip,
You’re right. Snack food manufacturers have largely agreed to stop marketing to kids directly, but of course, there are tons of indirect marketing messages going out. You know, I commend what these manufacturers are doing because it isn’t easy to go against the cultural flow. For decades, we’ve been inundated with clever and effective marketing that pushes snack foods. To take a page from them and expect immediate success is probably not realistic. But hopefully some progress will be made. I admit I do like the idea of using these kinds of tactics to appeal to kids with healthier food choices. And I like the idea of trying to reach young kids from the get-go. Teens are a tough market to reach. . .but all marketers need are a few early adopters, if they’ll bite. No pun intended. Thanks, Phillip. I always enjoy reading your comments.
Hi Paul,
You MUST have kids! Of course you do, so you know what they respond to. Great idea, if you ask me. After all, we know how kids love pasta shapes with their cheese, hence the success of Annie’s Homegrown. Maybe these guys ought to hire you and Jeanette to do their marketing! Thanks for weighing in, Paul. I appreciate it.
I look forward to seeing what veggie marketers will be doing in the months and years to come to better promote their junk food snack alternatives. It sounds like they have some nice ideas.
Hi Tracy,
Agreed. Given how challenging it is to get our kids to choose better snack options, it’s nice to see baby carrot marketers blazing a new trail that other veggie marketers might emulate. Especially if it’s successful. Here’s hoping. . . .Thanks for commenting, Tracy. I appreciate it.
I think they need to change the name! I fondly remember introducing “baby carrots” to my toddler when he said, “But I’m not a baby anymore.”
I recently enjoyed carrot chips with spinach dip and that was yummy. So, the dips might work.
It’ll be interesting to see how this rolls out.
Judy
Hi Judy,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. As a parent, I can attest to what you’re saying completely. Chips are a great idea. The marketplace is loaded with “veggie chips” vs potato chips as a healthier alternative snack, but they’re still largely fried, so it might be cool to see fresh carrot chips. And dips can be awesome. . .you’re making me hungry now, Judy! I’m hoping this new marketing approach is successful so kids will eat more carrots and vegetables in general. Wouldn’t we all love that as parents?
Update on vending machines for baby carrots, DF readers. Take a gander at this blogger’s article: http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-09-21-schools-carrot-vending-machines-a-success/. It seems that carrot vending machines are a success. . .especially when vending machines selling junk foods disappear. His take: when kids are hungry, they will eat what they find. So why not get them hooked on veggies?
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