Engaging Moms in the Great Repression

About 3 years ago, AdAge reported that Renatta McCann (media guru at Starcom), would not approve a media plan to go out of the big house without an online ad strategy. It's an understatement to say times have changed. Today, it seems to make sense that every media plan should have an engagement strategy. Alas, many don't...or won't.

J&J has always been an online pioneer. They just launched a social media initiative targeting moms via MySpace and YouTube. Big-time mommy bloggers and celebs were hired to help spread the news. What's really interesting is the recession message overlay that encourages voluntary acts for the collective good. J Walker Smith (Yankelovich) identified the return to civic life as a "watch-for" trend for 2009. This is one of the first CPG initiatives I've seen that embraces this trend. It's smart to tap into the deep generosity and creativity of new moms.

Excerpt from AdAge:

"The recession aspect is a bit more subtle. The YouTube contest aims to provide new opportunities for moms to use social media to supplement their income. The MySpace program looks to let women who may be out of work remain active by volunteering for causes important to them and enable working women to help out charities whose coffers have been depleted by the recession. "

BTW: the videos on the brand's Youtube channel are darn cute. Every repression needs some cute to uplift us!

Irish Industry...

Since middle March was so hectic, I just didn't get my full Irish on. So today, I'm cooking Irish. I'm re-inspired by yesterday's post about crowdsourcing Ireland's economy. Perusing the "Ballymaloe House" cookbook for inspiration, the author and proprietress wrote this story as an intro to a humble mushroom recipe. Food and memory always makes wonderful stories, yet it makes me wonder... do we have this kind of resilience to overcome the "struggles" today?

"My husband Ivan, first started to grow mushrooms in 1937. He was already growing apples in the fields, and tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. We were coming toward the end of a period when, in addition to the world Depression, Ireland was locked into the "Economic War" with England, and ordinary farming was in a disastrous state, as we could not sell our produce. At the same time the government, led by Eamon De Valera, was encouraging Irish industry, including the infant greenhouse industry, and mushroom growing was smiled on also...With a continuous supply of mushrooms, my husband took gifts of them to friends and relations he visited. In 9142, I had finished school and decided to leave home, intending to return a year later to settle down to marriage. First, I went to Northern Ireland to work in a hostel for old people who had been bombed out or otherwise dislodged from their homes by war. It was my job to clean the hostel, collect the milk from the nearest farm, , prepare the vegetables, and wash up. When Ivan came to visit me, he brought me a present of button mushrooms." Myrtle Allen

Can Crowdsourcing Save a Country?

Can an online grassroots initiative turn around a country's economy? That's the idea behind "The Ideas Campaign." The brainchild of one of Ireland's leading online agencies, the campaign hopes to inform the Irish about the real state of their economy, and tap into the collective intelligence to foster conversation about how the country can regain its competitiveness. It's just a one-month campaign, but it was able to gain awareness with the backing of Ireland's leading media outlets (I'm assuming for free).

The initiative taps into the best of the Irish spirit and pride of the Celtic Tiger. From the Ideas campaign: "we’re an entrepreneurial race, ranking second in the world for business start-ups. No, we didn’t make that one up. That’s what the think-tank, the OECD, no less says."

Have you ever known an Irishman who wasn't proud? When I was in Ireland at the height of the Tiger, I spoke to many young Irish who were proud of what had been accomplished. Back then, the young Irish felt they needed to "give back" and help other European countries out (like Poland). It will be interesting to see if that spirit of "giving" will be focused on their own turf.
www.ideascampaign.ie

Knowing the source...just got more important

I've been writing for the past week about knowing the source of your food as a macro trend that just keeps going and going. What I didn't know is that the government has been looking closely at this too--from a public safety perspective. Today, tne NYTimes reports that the Obama admin is concerned about the ability to trace food back to its source, What has been a marketing advantage now becomes a heightened safety issue and a future hurdle for many food manufacturers who have been missing the boat! I'm somewhat incredulous that many food suppliers are not able to trace their supply chain. Yikes!

Excerpt from NYTimes article:
"federal investigators bought 40 products — including tomatoes, oatmeal and yogurt — from retail stores and Washington and tried to trace them to farms or to the border. Investigators successfully traced the source for only 5 of the 40 products, the report stated. Three of the traced products were egg cartons whose supply chain included only a farm and a retailer. For a tomato, a bag of ice, a bottle of fruit juice and a bottle of water, investigators were not able to even guess the product’s supply chain. For 31 other products, investigators were able to identify only the likely suppliers.

The investigators contacted 220 food facilities to ask about their supplier records....(Among) 118 firms, 70 failed to provide investigators with required information about suppliers or customers, with 6 of the companies failing to provide any information at all...According to an estimate from a manager at a grain storage facility, if grain from one farm were contaminated, millions of bags of flour would be at risk and might have to be removed from retail shelves,”

Source: New York Times: Investigators Find Source of Many Foods Untraceable, GARDINER HARRIS,March 25, 2009

Knowing the source... of your jam

An Australian jam company has executed an idea that a gaggle of us had way back in 2000 for an US food brand. Today, trendwatching.com cited Beerenberg Jam's Provenance Pathway as noteworthy. Their online tool allows one to input the code from the jar cap to track what's inside right back to the orchard. Back in a web 1.0 world, the US company I was working with said they just didn't have the capability to set-up a system like this online. Ooh--it was such a good idea then--and it still is now, particularly as these kinds of applications move to smart phones.

It conjures up those feelings we've all felt when the big ones get away. The regret when a really great idea doesn't move forward. (yes, I'm feeling a little maudlin today).

It could have been "us"

Today, a writer for Newsweek answers the question I've been mulling for the past week. Why do we care so much about the Natasha Richardson story? Today in a meeting, one of my colleagues said, "It could have been me." Just three weeks ago, this father was skiing bunny runs, yet his wife insisted he wear a helmet (even though he admitted it felt a little geeky).

Here are excerpts from "When a Young Mother Dies" by Susanna Schrobsdorff, writing the Society column for Newsweek:
"Her passing from something as capricious and random as a minor fall on the gentlest of ski slopes was so jarring that we couldn't stop talking about the how and the why. It could have been any of us. And when we learned that she waved away an initial offer of medical care after her fall, we understood. I'm sure that if one of Richardson's children had bumped his head she would gone to an emergency room immediately, and stayed for as long as it took to be absolutely sure that the boy was fine. But how many parents, if we'd taken a small tumble, would have looked at the day's plans and said, "No, I don't want to ruin everyone's vacation only to spend hours at the hospital over a minor bump. We don't have time. I'll be fine."
Source: Susanna Schrobsdorff | Newsweek Web Exclusive Mar 24, 2009

Knowing the source...of your beer

Having lived and marketed through the "natural ingredient-nothing added-knowing the source of your food" trend since the mid-1990s, I was surprised to see a beer now taking this approach. The "green" plants in Michelob's spot, which turns out be be hops, fist caught my attention. (I had no idea what hops look like. "Man from Munich" showcases the guy who sources hops in Germany. I even remembered the tagline after just one exposure, no small feat(Crafting a Better Beer). It gets me interested in the brand again (even if I'm not the target...last time I saw a 6-pack of Mich was at grandpa's).

This macro trend about knowing the ingredients and the source of the food continues to be oh-so relevant, and continues to pick-up steam as Michelle Obama makes this even more topical. I saw how connecting a brand to this food movement grew Gerber share 10+ points. Smart move for a beer brand to occupy this territory.