American Express, Kellogg’s, Hasbro, Alka-Seltzer®… and other brands targeting the U.S. consumer right now. Check our prior Sales Leads columns.
American Express
American Express is rolling out geo-specific QR codes to encourage local business discovery, Mediapost reports. The “Let’s Go Shop Small” campaign, is launching today July 11 and encourages consumers across the country to support their local businesses this summer, continuing the brand’s legacy of championing #ShopSmall.Separately, in the UK American Express is launching an AR game in partnership with Yahoo called American Express Summer Drop. The game provides a taste of what it means to be an AmEx card holder. The AR game takes card holders on a citywide treasure hunt in search of virtual “drops” that unlock real-world rewards. Members can win things such as tickets to BST (British Summer Time) Hyde Park Music Festival, Wimbledon, Wilderness Festival, and other major American Express events. You can also pick up smaller prizes such as vouchers for Harvey Nichols and Bloom & Wild and free coffee at any Caffè Nero location.
Kellogg’s
Kellogg Company‘s Director of Cultural and Inclusive Marketing, Chelsea Jenkins, shared why and how Kellogg is launching a campaign, “On Mom’s tables Aquí y Allá“ on Kellogg Company’s Social K blog. A core facet of Kellogg’s™ Better Days global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy is its commitment to appreciate all individuals for their diverse backgrounds, experiences, styles, approaches and ideas. How the company market its foods is essential to how it expresses this commitment. According to Jenkins, the company has a massive responsibility to understand its consumers – to make sure they feel seen, heard and included when advertising its food. One insight they uncovered recently was that Kellogg’s cereal has been on the breakfast tables of Latina moms for generations in Mexico and the United States. Connecting that insight to the understanding that being bicultural today means a person can unapologetically embrace both of their cultures. The result was Kellogg’s campaign, called “On Moms’ tables Aquí y Allá” (“On Moms’ tables here and there”). The goal was to authentically capture the emotional relationship that bicultural Latina moms have had with the brand throughout their lives. The campaign includes in-store advertising and a variety of digital content. Consumers can see through ads that aren’t authentic or that just check a box. Simply having actors of a particular demographic doesn’t cut it. The people making the ads needed to be representative of the consumers the brand was trying to reach. That’s why Kellogg’s team went to Mexico City to film the content. The crew was entirely Hispanic. Everyone on the set was speaking Spanish; the actors were giving real-time feedback, tapping into their owned lived experiences at the breakfast table to further drive the authenticity.
Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro, Inc., has announced a partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) for the highly anticipated re-launch of Starting Lineup, an iconic sports collectibles brand. The Starting Lineup collectible will also include an exclusive, officially licensed Panini NBA trading card. Launching this fall in partnership with Fanatics, a global digital sports platform, the Starting Lineup brand will feature legendary NBA superstars as part of its first wave of figures and will be available for pre-order starting September 22 exclusively on Hasbro Pulse and across the Fanatics network of online sites, including Fanatics.com and official league stores. The return of the Starting Lineup brand will continue its legacy of bringing fans and collectors their favorite athletes in action figure form, but with design like never before in a highly articulated 6” scale. The Starting Lineup brand developed a massive following by bringing sports enthusiasts figures of their favorite superstar players accompanied by a trading card for more than a decade, and the introduction of notable NBA players will be the first of an all-new era of major athletes joining its classic heritage. Hasbro is also working with OneTeam Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, on the athlete and creative marketing campaign.
Alka-Seltzer®
Alka-Seltzer®, the Bayer brand known for its effervescent antacid and pain relief products, announced a partnership with musician and producer T-Pain to launch its newest innovation, NEW Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief. To introduce the brand to a new set of younger consumers, Alka-Seltzer released a remixed version of its iconic “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz” jingle – mixed, produced and recorded by rapper, musician and cocktail enthusiast, T-Pain.The original Alka-Seltzer jingle was released in 1951 with its catchy tune and memorable tagline of “plop, plop, fizz, fizz – oh, what a relief it is” that soon became synonymous with the brand for years to come. T-Pain’s new version of the jingle plays homage to the classic with a spin that, while making it more relevant to the times, still lets consumers know it’s distinctly an Alka-Seltzer product. The jingle is available to stream on AlkaSeltzer.com, and to celebrate, fans are invited to take part in a TikTok dance challenge, showing off their best moves to the remix alongside T-Pain.NEW Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief is available now at retailers nationwide including Target, CVS, Rite Aid, and more.To listen to the jingle remix, duet with T-Pain and see behind-the-scenes footage of the jingle remix, visit AlkaSeltzer.com and follow along on the brand’s Instagram and TikTok.
At this exclusive event on September 29, 2022, Brand Decision Makers and Marketing Service Suppliers will share and accelerate knowledge on key topics including multicultural marketing, e-commerce marketing and leveraging marketing technologies. To find out about networking solutions at Portada Live involving a myriad of brand decision makers, please contact Sales Coordinator Michelle Lopez at [email protected].
Prudential
Prudential Financial has appointed Interpublic’s McCann as its new creative advertising agency, following a review. StrawberryFrog was the incumbent and didn’t defend. Prudential has an in-house creative unit which will collaborate with McCann on marketing efforts including strategy, campaign execution and the development of creative assets. The appointment comes as Prudential is expanding its footprint to more markets.
