Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Are you a good candidate for Macsurance?

6/30/11

You may have seen some commercials over the past year for Kraft Mac & Cheese, based on the insight that adults love the stuff, but feel that they can’t make it for themselves, so they sneak bites when they make it for their kids. I have to say they reminded me of the old days when my dad would always tell me that he had to taste my French fries to make sure that they weren’t poisoned!

This summer Kraft is building on the campaign with a clever movie tie-in, offering insurance for kids that are in danger of having their mac & cheese stolen. The effort includes a pre-movie video, coupons and a macsurance certificate. The program will run in 13 of the summer’s PG rated blockbusters to reach moms and kids. And, fans over 18 can access the program through Facebook as well. (Lukovitz, 2011)

So what do you think? Are you a closet mac & cheese lover, or do you know one? Is this a good way to get kids to lobby their parents for more mac & cheese? Will you “like” the brand on Facebook even if you don’t have kids yet?

Lukovitz, K. (2011, June 20) Kraft Mac & Cheese Offers ‘Macsurance’. mediapost.com. Retrieved June 29, 2011, from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=152696&nid=128028

5 comments:

Ali Lazo said...

I believe that it is a great campaign!

This is the first time I see this commercials and I love the idea of involving the parents on the campaign. Macaroni and cheese is a meal commonly for kids, but its so good that parents always end up eating half of the kid's plate. When I cook mac and cheese for my cousins I ALWAYS try it with the excuse: "just checking if its good".

I think its an excellent campaign that will attract the attention of kids and parents and will make them go and buy more of the product.

Finally, I went to their facebook page and I liked the idea of the campaign so much, that even if I am not a regular consumer of the product, I would click "I like".

Adriana Negulescu said...

Personally I enjoy the commercial, although it doesn’t wake any nostalgia in me because my mom makes everything from raw ingredients, everything is very healthy and the whole family enjoys it. However I think it’s a good approach, and the main reason why adults do not eat it is because it is not healthy. When you are a kid you can eat everything you want. I asked my baby sister if the commercial would lead her to ask my mom to buy more, and she said it only would because she wants to have my parents have their own plates. However I am not sure that kids in US will ask parents to buy more because they got a bite stolen. I would not like the brand on Facebook, because although I find the commercial interesting, I am not a big fun of mac & cheese.

I think the commercial is for kids and parents to see it together and decide to have mac & cheese for their kids, and maybe parents take a small bite also. I don’t think that kids would run to their moms and say they want mac & cheese after seeing it alone. Also the concept of insurance I don’t believe is very understood by children and that is why the commercial has to be seen by both: the parents would find it funny and maybe they would remember the brand and kids would want to have mac & cheese because it looks so good.

Austin Rye said...

I think that it is a clever marketing tactic and the commercials are cute.If all Kraft is doing is running a video and the telling people brochures are available in the lobby then I am fine with it. I do have a problem with a company targeting people when they are essentially trapped in a theater waiting for the movie to start, delivering them an unwelcome sales pitch. The article did stated one way or another if the coupon brochures would be handled in that manner. From an advertising I think its a clever way to target adults to buy the product for themselves. I think kraft would do better to keep these commercials to selling their homestyle mac and cheese to adults not the basic powered mix mac and cheese. If they want to adults to not feel silly about eating a 'kids" product, then way not focus on the "sophisticated" taste of the homestyle mac and cheese.

Anonymous said...

Maria Alvarez said...

Just watched the commercial for the first time and found it to be funny.. insurance for your stolen macaroni. Good campaign that will attract the attention of some children and their parents. Why some? not every child likes macaroni and cheese, some parents think that macaroni and cheese from a box is not a healthy meal. I asked several colleagues at work, some of them told me that they didn’t like macaroni and cheese, therefore they didn’t buy it, 1 said- only if I boil the macaroni and grate the cheese, another said that she has given Kraft macaroni & cheese to her child because it was a quick meal to prepare.

Personally I don’t like macaroni and cheese, therefore I would not “like” the brand on Facebook.

Johanna said...

Johanna Koenigheit

I am not a Mac & Cheese lover, as it's not part of the french cuisine and traditions but I am seduced by the concept of the campaign and where it was run.
For most children in the U.S., eating Mac & Cheese is part of their eating habits and lifestyle so coming up with a fun concept and running the ad in theaters right before a blockbuster when kids are with their parents or relatives will allow Kraft to target them both and reach its media impressions.

This ad wont turn me into a Mac & Cheese lover but it did push me to like their facebook page by curiosity and to have more information about the campaign.