Teen Power
Finding a brand spokesperson who appeals to kids and to moms and can quarterback a successful back-to-school promotion for the No. 1 food company in the U.S. isn’t easy. But Kraft Foods North America found that brand representative — in a kid going on 14 — no less.
Northfield, IL-based Kraft teamed with Jive Records’ recording artist Aaron Carter (younger brother to Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter) for a three-month Win a Day as a Popstar instant-win game on more than 100 million packages spanning 12 brands.
 |
| Popstar Aaron Carter |
The promotion marked the first time Kraft combined so many of its brands into one music promotion.
The Win a Day as a Popstar contest dangled five grand prizes, including a trip to Los Angeles to record a demo song, hang out with Carter and go on a $1,000 shopping spree. More than 10,000 Hasbro e-Kara karaoke machines were offered as secondary prizes.
The contest and Carter’s upcoming album, Another Earthquake, were featured on more than 25,000 P-O-P items. TV, print, radio and activity at aaroncarter.com and at all Kraft kids’ sites supported. New York City-based EastWest Creative handled the promotion for Kraft.
The effort garnered double-digit volume increases — despite slightly higher prices — and double-digit share increases for participating brands compared to a year ago. While participating brands gained volume, non-promoted brands’ sales declined compared to the year before.
“We were very pleased with it — one reason was for meeting our business objectives, but we did something that was relevant to kids and didn’t alienate families,” Stephen Chriss, associate director of Nabisco consumer promotions‥
And the tie-in with young music talent couldn’t have been better timed.
“If you look at what is going on in the entertainment industry with American Idol and Star Search and all of these kids talent-type contests, we were right on the wave of that,” says Chriss, who was manager of Kraft kids’ alliance during the campaign.
Plus, Kraft had done its homework, including a study that revealed 72% of kids say listening to music is among their favorite activities and that being rich and famous is one of their top fantasies.
“We wanted to develop a back-to-school promotion that linked kids’ fantasy wishes with something moms thought was fun,” Chriss says. “Kids want to be stars — we know that they aspire to that.”
As the talks between Kraft and Jive progressed, Kraft signed on as the official sponsor of Carter’s Rap, Rock & Retro summer tour supporting his new album. Kraft coordinated account-specific merchandising events, including meet-and-greets and doling out advance copies of Carter’s album. Tearpads at retail offered $1 discounts on school supplies with the purchase of three participating Kraft brands.
“It can sometimes be very difficult with programs like these,” says Julia Lipari, senior VP-special products/marketing at Jive Records, New York City. “The cultures don’t always blend well, we have different businesses and needs, but we accomplished our mutual objectives.”
“The program had a nice balance of star appeal and kid appeal,” notes Michele Svirsky, group account director at EastWest Creative.
Now, does Aaron have a younger brother?
SUPPORTING CAST
KRAFT FOODS: Stephen Chriss
JIVE RECORDS: Julia Lipari
EASTWEST CREATIVE: Michele Svirsky, Chris Kammerer, Michael Giardina
