Nature’s Path has unleashed its first integrated, multi-channel consumer campaign in North America for its flagship cereal, Flax Plus Pumpkin Granola, focusing on what the company calls “the higher calling of personal sustainability, defined as health and wellness," Media Buyer Planner reports.The campaign uses coffee shop take-overs, street sampling teams in Portland, Boston and Vancouver, social media, an interactive online game, and train and bus wraps, along with print, television and radio elements. Promotional arrangements with CBS and Rachael Ray incorporate sampling tactics at Whole Foods, on-air promotions, and a contest featured in Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine.
The advertising encourages the public to become more sustainable by taking a quiz to find out where they are “on the green path,” and then to share their stories on the Nature’s Path website or through Facebook or Twitter.
Successful Sustainability Message Embraces Lightness, Humor
“In this space, when messaging around sustainability, it’s important to find just the right presentation of the brand voice. In this case for Nature’s Path, a sense of humor can help alleviate the cloying earnestness that has become a well-recognized signpost of greenwashing for wary consumers,” said Marty McDonald, founder and creative director of Seattle brand communications agency egg, the agency which created the campaign.
One ad reads: “An organic cereal company can’t solve climate change, but it can cause cereal change… We’ve found that social and environmental responsibility go particularly well with milk.”
This campaign emerged from a comprehensive brand development process carried out by egg.
Sales Jump 33% in Toronto
At the close of a 12-week test campaign in Toronto, Nature’s Path saw sales increase 33%. The rest of the category fell behind or remained flat, the company said.
Green Marketing Successful, On the Rise
Customers are rewarding companies that use so-called “green marketing” tactics and are willing to pay more for the same product when it is presented with an environmentally friendly message, according to a recent research report from Environmental Leader and Watershed Publishing.
The report also revealed that increased spending on green advertising and marketing is, in many cases, the result of firms finding distinct additional marketing and advertising advantages with green messages.
Among survey respondents, 82% of plan to increase their spending on green marketing in the future, the report said.
Here's the TV commercial:
