#HomegrownHolidays

T e a m 1 4 S e a l t h e S e a s o n

1

“Homegrown for the Holidays”

Project:

New holiday campaign to raise brand awareness and recognition for Seal the Seasons

Prepared by:

Oliver Jones osjones@live.unc.edu

(919) 800-8596

Tyler Petty tylerpetty2022@gmail.com

(704) 754-6251

Katarina Terentieva terentie@live.unc.edu

(336) 906-9761

Paige Connelly pconn@live.unc.edu

(704) 2073524

Kealia Reynolds kereynol@live.unc.edu

(954) 740-9377

2

➸ Background/Overview: Seal the Seasons is a frozen produce company based in Hillsborough, North

Carolina founded by Patrick Mateer in 2015. The company, consisting of employees, maintains close relations with local farmers to guarantee high quality, nutritious produce and supplies nearly 500 stores throughout North Carolina. Seal the Seasons flash freezes its produce immediately after harvest to preserve flavor and nutrients and provides local produce such as broccoli, strawberries, blueberries and spinach year-round. The company is able to maintain a competitive price point while providing high-quality produce and maintaining a high level of social responsibility within the community.

Seal the Seasons focuses on a few core values: being authentic, celebrating uniqueness, maintaining transparency, doing more for the social good, staying local, and increasing food accessibility. The company’s strengths include retaining a strong brand image and being relatively accessible to everyone with its good prices for products. Its weaknesses include having poor social media and marketing initiatives; the company has poor consumer interaction on platforms like Twitter and doesn’t have other social media accounts. Based on these strengths, Seal the Seasons has the opportunity to expand on the distinction that it is the only locally-grown frozen market in the United States. There is no other organization that incorporates the local aspect to its farm to table process. However, potential threats that the company needs to be aware of include the fact that the market for frozen foods is dominated by house-brand names like Harris Teeter, and the notion that consumers prefer other brands that they are more comfortable with and aware of.

Seal the Seasons wants to increase brand recognition and awareness and attract

young mothers between the ages of 25-35 who are loyal to brands and value healthy lifestyles, as well as middle to upper-class women between the ages of 55-65 who are community-oriented and health-conscious. The company also wants to create an advertising and public relations campaign for the holiday season, effective immediately and lasting until January 31, 2017. We want consumers to be aware of the Seal the Seasons brand by engaging them with a social media campaign, various promotional, holiday-themed events and different publicity tactics.

➸ Objective: We want consumers to increase their brand recognition of the company by

focusing on the core attributes and values the company holds, the benefits of purchasing local produce, the company’s contributions to communities in North Carolina and the charitable spirit of the holiday season from November to January. ➸ Target Audience:

As specified by the client, this campaign will be aimed predominantly at two different target audiences within North Carolina. The first target segment is directed at young, white married mothers aged 25-35 who fall within the middle to upper-class income range. These mothers are hip health nuts who are proud to support local movements and align with social justice initiatives. Since they do most of the grocery

3

shopping for the household, they are conscious about where and how their food is produced, so they will frequent the local grocery stores to buy brands that are local and familiar to them.

The second target segment includes older, white women aged 55-65, who also fall

within the middle to upper-class range. Most of these women are grandmothers who love to cook and enjoy being involved with their community. They like to try different recipes, especially during the holiday season, and attempt to make dishes with food items that aren’t in season. Because of this, they will buy food locally to support community efforts and buy brands that they are unfamiliar with. For the purpose of the presentation, we will call our representative personas “Jane” and “Deb.” ➸ Big Idea:

Since the holidays produce sentiments of giving, community and authenticity, Seal the Seasons will make consumers aware of its brand through an emphasis on brand values, while pushing brand preference through the holiday campaign. ➸ Reasons to Believe and Buy (rational and emotional): Seal the Seasons is special in that it flash freezes its produce as soon as it is harvested, thus retaining more nutrients than fresh produce. The company also stands out because it values the relationship between farmers and consumers and values the local community by practicing responsible, sustainable business practices that help the environment.

● Against the Grain — Food for the average American meal travels an estimated 1500 miles from the farm gate to the consumer’s plate. Seal the Seasons’s pride and emphasis on quality, locally-sourced produce puts consumers closer to the farming process. (University of Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture)

● Addresses a Wider Problem — According to North Carolina Food Banks, one in five North Carolinians currently faces hunger and one in four children are food insecure. A study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that nearly 90% of participants said that they would pay more for produce if that money stayed in the local community.

● Fresher than Fresh - Seal the Seasons flash freezes its produce as soon as possible, which helps retain nutrients, freshness and taste. Studies have shown that some frozen produce is actually fresher than non-frozen produce, and freezing blueberries and strawberries have shown to have higher levels of Vitamin C than non-frozen berries.

● Competitive Price Point — Seal the Seasons boasts competitive pricing with its competitors at various grocery stores and is still able to promote sustainability and quality produce.

● Connection with Farmers — A big facet of the company is valuing connections between the farmers and consumers. Seal the Seasons offers testimonials on the back of its packaging and wants consumers to feel as if they know the farmers on a personal level.

4

● Traceability — Seal the Seasons prides itself in having very few steps in getting its produce from the farm to the consumer. The company is currently working on innovative ways to show this to consumers. One crucial way involves incorporating interactive technology that allows a purchaser to find out where the food came from and who grew it.

● Social Responsibility — 36% of food pantries in North Carolina have had to turn people away for a lack of food to give them and Seal the Seasons dedicates 20% of its local profits toward ending local hunger (NC Food Bank). The company recently donated over 1000 lbs of broccoli to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, demonstrating their involvement with the food insecure in North Carolina.

“We believe in health and wealth for all in North Carolina.”

➸ Platforms to Utilize Social Media — Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter will each be updated daily with timely information, relevant articles and compelling pictures (see mock-ups below)

● Hootsuite: Accommodates the complications that arise from a small, busy team. This tool would allow a marketing intern, for example, to be flexible when planning and posting on social media sites by allowing her to post anytime anywhere, improving community engagement and consistency in content.

Print Advertisements — The Herald Sun and Daily Tar Heel could be contacted for the potential for local advertisements to be displayed in their publications. Contact information for advertisers can be found on the printed Media List. Additional flyers advertising events could be distributed to businesses on Franklin Street and in Carrboro. Coupon pitches - Purchasers of locally sourced groceries are known to active search for deals and promotional offers. To help with Seal the Seasons’s promotional schedule, we have compiled a media list of coupon bloggers with influence over consumers in the Southeast region of the United States. The media list includes 73 coupon bloggers and their names, contact information and unique visitors per month (UVPM) statistics. Pitches to Short-Lead Publications — The News & Observer, The Herald Sun, The Charlotte Observer ➸ Potential Partnerships

● Maple View Farm: A local dairy farm in Hillsborough, NC, that shares Seal the Seasons’s values of community, connection and sustainability. A potential partnership could include Maple View using Seal the Seasons’s berries in the company’s ice cream.

5

● Elmo’s Diner: a local restaurant in Carrboro, NC,

with a history of being conscious about food sourcing and supporting local businesses. A potential partnership could involve a day with featured menu items made with Seal the Seasons’s produce (strawberry shakes, blueberry pancakes, broccoli soup, etc.).

● 5K Events: These events tend to be popular during the holiday season and attract demographics that favor nutrition, connection and charity, which are also insights related to purchasing local produce. A potential partnership could involve Seal the Seasons providing nutritious snacks before the race or berry-infused water at hydration stations during the race.

● Southern Season: Southern Season in Chapel

Hill hosts cooking classes on an almost daily basis. After calling Kim Calloway, a worker at the Chapel Hill Southern Season, we were notified that Seal the Seasons could hypothetically rent out the cooking class facility for $125 an hour, and cooking class fees typically range from $40 - $50 per participant. Seal the Seasons could use their produce during the cooking classes to foster public engagement with their products and increase brand recognition in a key target demographic.

➸ Creative Development Support:

Promotional materials for social media:

Seal the Seasons Vector Graphic We turned your .png logo file into a vector graphic with a transparent background, allowing it to be easily pasted on a promotional item, flyer, website page, or any other internal uses.

6

#HomegrownHolidays Facebook Banner

#HomegrownHolidays Promotional Materials

Instagram Captions — ● Who says strawberries are just for the summer? Enjoy

local berries year round! They make a great addition to a big Thanksgiving dinner #HomegrownHolidays

● Happy Holidays from the Seal the Seasons team! Just because they’re out of season doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy locally grown produce during the holidays #HomegrownHolidays

● Berry Christmas and a Happy Blue Year from all of us here at Seal the Seasons! We’re looking forward to providing local produce to you all year long in 2017 #HomegrownHolidays Inspiration for the Materials: We wanted to portray ourselves as clean, family-friendly and familiar. By using a big spread reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner in our cover photo, we assert Seal The Seasons as part of a family’s gathering during Thanksgiving. The Instagram graphics were meant to be cute and simple, incorporating what we considered to be “mom humor” with puns. With the video, the Facebook page Tasty gets millions of views on their videos showing how to make recipes. By imitating their brief and simple style of video, we made a short video that shows consumers how to use Seal The Seasons’s products in an easy but delicious smoothie.

7

Homegrown Holiday’s Viral Video

Style Guide Fonts used in logos, mockups:

● Ansichtkaart ● Amatic SC ● Arial

Tag Line for Campaign: “Seal the family. Seal the community. Seal the seasons.” Tag Line: “Eat Local All Year Round.” Brand Personality

● Keywords: authenticity, uniqueness, transparency, social good, local, accessible

Instagram:

Instagram should have at least two posts per week, sometimes featuring a particular recipe, farmer profile, consumer profile, or event announcement. The color scheme and tone should align with the holidays and be unique and authentic, making use of the hashtag #HomegrownHolidays. Emojis are acceptable to use in moderation. Posts on example account show themes, captions and types of photos that should be included.

8

Facebook: Facebook should be linked to

the Instagram account, meaning posts to Instagram appear on the Facebook feed as well. Frequent updates are important, as is interacting with consumers when they comment. Links to informational articles about local food sourcing, upcoming events and health should be posted. Voice should be friendly and personal, but not overbearing. Content irrelevant to local food sourcing, community efforts, recipes and health tips should not be posted. Videos showing recipes are encouraged. Do not use hashtags, even though they are a feature. Pinterest:

Pinterest should be updated every two weeks at the minimum. Recipes and crafts dealing with food products and community events should be pinned to the Pinterest board. This social media platform will target our young mother segment. Twitter:

Twitter should have posts similar to Facebook content, but with hashtags and a more noticeable voice. Facts about local food efforts and health tips are encouraged. It is important to follow back new followers and respond in a timely manner if/when a person interacts with the official Seal the Seasons account.

9

Website/Blog: The website/blog should be accessible and interactive with consumers. It will be

more simple to read and navigate. There will be an emphasis on farmer biographies, consumer testimonials, upcoming events, and the “farm to table” process. Farmer bios and consumer testimonials will be updated weekly. Blogs will help to gain readership from the target audience of young moms and middle-aged women. Some recommended blog topics are:

● Weekly Recipes using Seal the Seasons products ○ During the Homegrown Holidays campaign, the recommended

recipes should relate to popular holiday meals or seasonal items, like the strawberry-mulled wine in the newsletter, or the recipes pinned on the Pinterest board.

● News Updates ○ It’s especially recommended to post any future and past charity

events, including the update about the recent food bank donation. ● Upcoming Events

○ Future events with descriptions should be updated frequently. Some current events the campaign has to offer include the Weaver Street Market smoothie event, the cooking class partnership with Southern Season and the Elmo’s Diner breakfast partnership

Promotional Materials:

10

Merchandise Retail Price: T-Shirt - $15 / Canvas Bag - $15 / Buttons - $2 / Stickers - $5 Quantity: T-Shirt (100), Canvas Bag (50), Buttons (200), Stickers (500) Production Costs: T-Shirts - $10, Canvas Bag - $10, Buttons - $.15, Stickers - $100 for 500 stickers Manufacturers: Seventh Generation, WasteZero (ethically sourced, environmentally responsible clothing manufacturers sharing similar values to Seal the Seasons) Meet the Farmer Bio:

"Why have I stuck with farming? It’s the way you’re raised. I was raised working 70-80 hours a week – does not bother me a bit, as long as I get a break. People talk about a 40-hour workweek, but most of the time I’ve achieved that by Wednesday. On the other hand, when most people get ready for work, they have to get dressed up, commute and so on. Most days I get up and brush my teeth and I’m at work.”

-Mark Lyon

11