Dive Brief:
- Kraft is giving families an opportunity to appear in the brand's first-ever Super Bowl ad by sharing photos of their game-day activities on social media, Anne Field, director of brand building for Kraft, told Marketing Dive in a phone interview. The content will be reviewed in real-time to create a 30-second spot scheduled for the second half of the game.
- A push across social, digital and broadcast media kicks off today, Jan. 29, and continues through Feb. 4 to make consumers aware of the opportunity. Additionally, a pre-game TV ad will air before kickoff inviting participation. For a chance to appear in Kraft's Super Bowl commercial, families can share photos and videos on game day between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtags #FamilyGreatly and #KraftEntry.
- The Super Bowl effort is the next stage in Kraft's new Family Greatly platform, which was introduced in December and brings together all the products bearing the Kraft brand under one umbrella. The new unified strategy is rolling out across all marketing materials this year.
Dive Insight:
Kraft is going for a feel-good emotional connection with Super Bowl fans via a campaign about coming together as a family — however you want to definite what constitutes a family — to enjoy shared experiences like watching the biggest football game of the year or eating macaroni and cheese. Crafting the ad in near real-time from viewers's photos and giving fans a chance to be in a Super Bowl ad that could be viewed by 11 million people is likely to build anticipation for the ad, ensuring people stick around to watch during commercial breaks.
"The goal of the Super Bowl campaign is to demonstrate our purpose by giving the stage to families and build that emotional connection with a big gesture," Field told Marketing Dive.
"No matter how you define family, whomever you choose to celebrate game day with is great. We are happy to see videos from all kinds of homes and parties across the country," she said.
On Feb. 4, Kraft will leverage technology to pull all the posts with the appropriate hashtags so its Leo Burnett creative team and Kraft's marketing team can review the images and choose which ones will appear in the ad. By leveraging social media to help create an ad in real-time, Kraft hopes to drive awareness of the effort as consumers share the news with friends.
The theme behind the effort mirrors Kraft's own attempts to bring together a number of products that were previously marketed separately and unite them as a single family of products, including Kraft Singles, Kraft Mayo, Kraft Salad Dressing and Kraft BBQ Sauce. Like the Super Bowl ad, the broader Family Greatly campaign features real families instead of actors, which is likely a response to the preferences of millennials — many of whom are now starting their own families — including a desire for authenticity from brands. The original video, which went up online in mid-December, shows how parents put a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect and has been viewed more than 5 million times on YouTube.
With Super Bowl ads costing approximately $5 million a pop, Kraft is one of several brands trying to extend the life of their 30-second spot through social media, audience participation and other tactics. Hyundai is promising to "surprise millions" in a teaser ad and M&M's is running a Super Bowl dance contest on social media.
