Who: Kraft Heinz, with The Kitchen for strategy and creative, Carat for media, and Middle Child for social and influencer.
What: “Welcome Home Jars,” limited-edition jars of Kraft Peanut Butter featuring welcome messages in five different languages—a way to give immigrants a taste of Canada in their first language.
When & Where: The promotion launched Feb. 21, AKA “International Mother Tongue Day.” There’s a special microsite that hosts the campaign, and some social (paid and owned) and influencer content to raise awareness. That’s being supported by out-of-home at arrival gates at both Toronto Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau airports, and some programmatic and language-specific creative on Snapchat.
Why: Kraft says its brand promotes “nourishing connections,” and its current advertising platform emphasizes the Canadian-ness of its peanut butter—presenting it as a beloved comfort food for many Canadians. “Welcome Home Jars” is a way to introduce new Canadians to peanut butter with welcoming messages that help them feel connected to Canadians’ shared love of peanut butter.
And, as a Kraft Heinz release points out, Canada is welcoming more immigrants than ever before: A record 465,000 projected for 2023, with 1.5 million expected over the next three years. This campaign is not only a warm welcome to those immigrants, but a way express support to anyone who speaks their “mother tongue.”
“Moving to a new country can be intimidating, and tasks like grocery shopping can feel like unfamiliar territory,” said Simon Wong, associate director of marketing for spreads and slices with Kraft Heinz. “We want to help these individuals feel welcome and supported during their transition, and we hope Welcome Home Jars will be a small but meaningful gesture.”
How: The jars are only available at the site WelcomeHomeJars.ca, and feature one of five welcome messages in either Hindi, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, and simplified Chinese. Kraft Heinz worked with the language-learning platform Duolingo to help contextualize what “Welcome Home” means in each language. The Spanish jar, for example, says “Home, sweet home.”
Along with the message, there’s a link to Duolingo language classes, a 30-day subscription to Super Duolingo, and other assistance resources for the newly arrived Canadians.
The promotion is being supported primarily through social and influencer outreach, including popular Toronto Raptor “superfan” Nav Bhatia.
“The excitement of being in this beautiful country as an immigrant is still met with many challenges including language, which is often a very difficult barrier to overcome,” said Bhatia in the release. “This is why I am so excited to partner with Kraft Peanut Butter and help spread awareness around Welcome Home Jars to new Canadian Immigrants, so they can feel connected to the brand’s community and use the resources available at Duolingo to help address the language barrier.”
