Kraft Canada had a bit of a problem.

While its grocery brands were well known by millennial shoppers, research had shown they were often perceived as processed and, well, dated. With pressure from private label, Kraft “enhancers” and Jell-O had experienced a steep baseline decline in 2013. Furthermore, research showed that Kraft baselines were declining faster than its competitors.

A shift in shopper behaviour towards meal prep and the growth of natural foods were only making matters worse for these brands. Shoppers who were still using Kraft products were only using them in one way, not exploring all the creative possibilities the products provided. Now that Kraft had identified multiple brands that struggled with this enormous shift in consumer perception, it needed a plan that would not only improve the role of these products, but get the targeted shopper cooking again with them in a variety of ways.

The campaign objectives were to increase product gross revenue (GR) shipment volume by 5.5%; reinvent how Kraft products can engage and position themselves in the pre-shop and in-store environments; and change the perception for the selected brand from being tired, old, and dusty, to new, innovative and inventive.

Kraft Canada was the first CPG company to recognize the trend of food hacking, capitalize on it and commercialize it. Through qualitative research, it was found that the primary target (millennial moms) didn’t process information the same way older customers did. By communicating through imagery and infographics, as opposed to traditional “feature and benefit” picture and copy, the team realized it was able to intercept them differently and provide key messaging to the target segment.

By talking to consumers in “their” language, three-step recipe solutions were outlined, all extremely simple to make and including participating Kraft grocery products. Working closely with various retail partners, Kraft Kitchens developed custom, easy-to-make recipes that would not only vary from retailer to retailer, but also work to drive overall basket size.

The cornerstone touchpoint for the “Food Hacks” campaign was the design of the in-store POS materials. Intentionally modelled after infographics, the design had to easily convey three things at once: 1) Kraft products were not being repositioned, they were being repurposed; 2) A simple three-step instruction that even the most novice cook could follow using the “get these, do this, done” heuristic; and 3) The pictorial representation of the “hack” itself, leveraging design convention from the popular food hack memes.

In-store material was merchandised through a variety of custom displays containing both participating Kraft products and complementary products needed to complete the recipes, also actively leveraging brand partnerships. Different retailers had their own, unique hacks developed for them, with tactics ranging from four-way displays to recipe tear pads to headercards.

The campaign was successful at bringing back dated Kraft products into the consideration of the target, garnering an 11.2% gross revenue shipment increase and 13 million impressions to date. Participating stores showed increases in unit consumption for participating “enhancer” products versus non-participating stores, 41% versus 29%, respectively. Food Hacks ads on KraftCanada.com saw click-through rates that were three to four times higher than baseline averages for both Kraft and the industry, while Food Hacks-themed Facebook posts reached over 90,000 Canadians.