Who: Kraft Heinz, with No Fixed Address and its new-ish New York office Mischief @ No Fixed Address, along with Starcom for media and Colony Project for PR.
What: “Send Noods” a short-run, playful idea about dating in a pandemic that encourages people to send “noods” (Kraft Dinner’s macaroni noodles to be accurate) to a love interest using Kraft Heinz’s DTC platform Canteen.
When & Where: The campaign started today (Oct. 6) and runs for just two days, with a heavy focus on social, influencer outreach and a Tinder takeover.
Why: As part of its strategy to reach younger consumers, Kraft Heinz wants creative ideas inspired by moments in culture—relatively low-cost but high-impact efforts that people will talk about and share on social, such as Pumpkin Spice Kraft Dinner.
“With the news cycle being so short, and the share of consumers’ minds being so crowded with so many different brands and messages, I think the more opportunities that you’re able to get different, creative messages out there to see what lands with consumers, the better,” said Brian Neumann, senior brand manager, brand building and innovation Kraft Foods.
In this case it’s pandemic dating—a hot topic that we now know is going to be an issue for some time. “We wanted to tap into that conversation in a tongue-in-cheek way,” he said.
How: With a humorous twist on sexting that invites people to “send noods.” Social ads with the noodles blurred out are targeting younger consumers, inviting them to visit EnjoyNoods.com, a landing page on Kraft Heinz’s DTC site Canteen. There, they enter a loved one’s address to send them some Kraft Dinner.
Marketing at the speed of culture: “I believe that speed is of the utmost importance these days, and the faster we can get things out, the better,” said Neumann. While that sometimes means production values may not be perfect, that’s less important than being fast.
How fast? “We first started hearing about this idea a couple weeks ago,” he said. It was shared in the U.S first, but they quickly decided they wanted to bring it to Canada. Conversely, the recent Pumpkin Spice KD idea started in Canada and was picked up south of the border.
No video? There is in the U.S. (see it below) but not in Canada. “I just felt there was such stopping power in those basic, simple static images that would allow us to tap into that social conversation,” said Neumann.
What about Canteen? Canteen, which launched in May, gives Kraft Heinz the control and flexibility to run fast turnaround campaigns like Send Noods and Pumpkin Spice KD, fulfilling delivery and updating messaging on the digital point-of-sale with consumers.
“It helps us control the experience from start to finish, and be able to own that entire experience from when you see a social post to when you’re actually purchasing an item to putting into your cart, and then having it delivered directly to your home,” said Neumann.
And we quote: “As much as we all learned never to write puns in advertising, this actually came out of a real insight: in these uncomfortable times, people are reaching for more comfort food than ever. As we continue to find ways to stay connected, we thought it would be fun and mischievous to send people ‘noods’ which are welcomed, both solicited and unsolicited.” —Bianca Guimaraes and Kevin Mulroy, co-executive creative directors at Mischief @ No Fixed Address.
