Sara Lee Deli Makes Lunchtime Woes a Social Contest
In time for the school-year lunchtime rush, Sara lee Deli has launched a social campaign to identify and help the mom with the pickiest packed-lunch eaters. The grand prize: a home visit and lunch-menu aid from celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli, and a year’s supply of Sara Lee Deli Fresh Ideas sliced meats.
To enter the “What’s your lunchtime Challenge?” contest, visitors can go to the Sara Lee Deli Fresh Ideas Facebook page and submit an essay of 100 words or less describing the problems they face getting their children to eat the lunches they pack for school, along with a photo that encapsulates their struggle.
Once submissions close on Oct. 3, visitors to the Facebook page will be able to start voting for their favorite entries. Those votes will produce 25 finalists by Oct. 13 who will advance for judging by a Sara Lee panel. A grand prize winner will be selected based on the uniqueness of the essay, the degree to which other mothers can relate to the lunchtime challenge described, and how well the accompanying photo captures the problem conveyed in the essay.
The contest winner, chosen around Oct. 20, will get an in-home visit and food shopping trip with chef and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli. The executive chef of New York’s Butter restaurant and host of “Alex’s Day Off” and “The Cooking Loft” will also offer lunchtime solutions to the winner and 10 friends in the winner’s kitchen.
This is the first user-vote campaign Sara Lee Deli has run inside Facebook, but the brand has had other notable successes connecting with its core mom consumer in the social network. Its tongue-in-cheek “Mama Saga” videos, produced using improv comedians from the business division of Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe, garnered more than 2.5 million views in the six months after their release last September.
In February Sara Lee enhanced the “Saga” campaign with “Saga Solvers”, a series of videos featuring food experts and including live chat sessions in which mothers could get their menu questions answered.
