Baby carrot farmers are launching a campaign that pitches the little, orange, crunchy snacks as daring, fun and naughty — just like junk food.
A group of 50 carrot producers hopes the ‘Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food’ effort starting this week will double the $1 billion market in two or three years.
The goal is to get people to think of baby carrots as a brand they can get excited about — not just a plain, old vegetable. A baby carrots website features metal music and deep male voices chanting “Baby. Carrots. Extreme.” On social networking site Twitter, the campaign’s account suggests people eat them “like there’s no tomorrow (maybe there won’t be…)”
“This campaign is about turning baby carrots into a brand,” said Jeff Dunn, CEO of Bolthouse Farms, the nation’s top baby carrot producer with 50 percent of the market, and the most to gain if the market grows. “We think ultimately long-term here we’re going to turn it into a very vital brand in the mind of consumers.”
The plan begins in Cincinnati and Syracuse, N.Y., and will take at least a year to go national.
But carrot eaters around the country will get a taste of baby carrots’ attempt at attitude with Scarrots next month. The Halloween version of baby carrots will come in spooky packaging and have glow-in-the-dark temporary tattoos, ideal for giving out to trick-or-treaters, Dunn said.
The marketing campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, known for its edgy advertising of Burger King and Old Navy, will cost about $25 million.
Television ads–directed by Guy Shelmerdine of Smuggler–depict futuristic scientists studying crunch, a woman lusting after carrots and carrot sports featuring a young man who launches off a snowy mountain top in a grocery cart and catches in his mouth a carrot shot by a gun below. Music for the spots was composed by Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau of Beacon Street Studios, with Paul Hurtubise serving as sound designer/mixer. Editor was Chan Hatcher of No. 6 Edit. VFX house was Method.
The campaign also features billboards with messages like “Our crunch can beat up your crunch” and carrot vending machines in schools.
Stores will carry new packaging in crinkly, festive bags reminiscent of chip bags with designs that mimic the ads. There’s a bright green one with a hip red bunny wearing sunglasses, and dark, futuristic packaging with bright orange lines coming out of a carrot.
The carrot group and its agency studied other campaigns — such as the “Drink Milk” effort” — and decided to push further with baby carrots, beyond marketing the benefits of the vegetables.
“You didn’t need to talk about any of the health benefits. Everyone knows carrots are good for you,” said Tiffany Rolfe, vice president and group creative director at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. “Our goal was to separate it from being a vegetable as much as possible, to create a new category for carrots.”
Sales of baby carrots — which are, in fact, not babies at all but rather small, peeled carrot shapes cut from larger ones — have fallen in the mid-single digits in the past two years as people spend less in the down economy, Dunn said. That includes buying bigger carrots and cutting them up themselves to save money.
Baby carrots were introduced in the mid- to late 1980s, created for their convenience of being an easy snack. Sales grew quickly in the first 10 to 15 years, but the growth tapered off, Dunn said.
For now the campaign will roll out gradually and focus on marketing. But Dunn, a former president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola North America, said new variations could be developed, including baby carrots with ranch flavoring.
“How high is up?” he said of the market’s potential. “That’s the real question, what’s possible here? We put it out there, and we’ll learn and evolve.”
See the “Extreme” spot below. The full campaign can be seen here.
Actor Steve Guttenberg Returns To L.A. Neighborhood Now Charred By Devastating Wildfire
Steve Guttenberg awoke Thursday morning to a grim reality: The treacherous wildfire that tore through the Pacific Palisades had left his once-lush neighborhood charred and unrecognizable.
With homes smoldered, streets emptied and friends scattered by evacuation orders, Guttenberg counted himself among the fortunate. His property was miraculously spared. But the actor-producer still struggled to reconcile his relief with the haunting sight of his ravaged, once lavish community.
"Just this morning, I woke up and I was really conscious of my mental state and my mental health, because the last three days, I've seen so much tragedy," said Guttenberg, pacing through the ruins of his neighborhood. He said his home has electricity but no running water.
Guttenberg thanked God that his block was safe, but he said about 20 homes were burned "pretty bad" in his 80-home community after wind-whipped fires tore across Los Angeles, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled as the fires burned uncontained Wednesday. He said the fires are the worst he's ever seen in his 66-years.
The wildfires have burned the homes of several celebrities including Billy Crystal, Carey Elwes and Paris Hilton.
Guttenberg said he never expected all of this to happen.
"It's like when someone dies suddenly," he said. "It's like when someone gets hit by a car. You never expect that to happen. That's how shocking it was."
During Guttenberg's stroll, it was an eerie scene with scorched palm trees, homes reduced to ash and rubble, and the daytime skies casted an ominous twilight over the devastation.
"I've seen people scared, people in wheelchairs, mothers and fathers trying to find their kids, people having anxiety and panic... Read More