Dive Brief:

• Kraft Heinz Company is running a promotional contest for its new Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Big Bowls that targets parents of young children on Valentine’s Day, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive.  
• The effort involves a video, a social media push, including the hashtag #KraftMacIsForLovers, and a contest to win Big Bowls before they hit the market. In the video, a mother plots her date night by getting her son fed and to bed, so that she can have a romantic evening with her partner. Parents can register to enter on a dedicated site Kraft Mac Is For Lovers. Kraft is collecting data including name, address, email address and phone number from entrants.
• The winners will receive Macaroni & Cheese products, as well as some elements to make a romantic evening for parents such as candles and rose petals. The new product will hit stores and e-commerce sites on Feb. 15.

Dive Insight:

Kraft is leaning into the popularity of its Macaroni & Cheese products with families looking for quick and easy dinner options. The humorous Valentine's Day-themed campaign positions the meal as helping parents get the kids "fed and to bed," so that parents can save their energy for romance. The video includes the suggestive line: "More noodles and cheese so you can get them fed, get them to bed and get it on."

Some 8.65 million Americans consumed 5 or more packages of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in 2019, per Statista, making it a household name. Kraft Heinz's own research conducted in December found that 86% of parents would like intimacy with their partner on Valentine’s Day, but a quarter of these people said their children would get in the way of a romantic evening.

Kraft has been having fun with parents in its ads for years. In 2017, the company ran the "Swear like a Mother" ad, which had fun with the idea that parenting can be frustrating. The ad was part of the "Make It Right" campaign, an effort the family-oriented brand uses to illustrate moms and dads messing up but making everything right again by serving the brand's classic mac and cheese.