Snickers Bar Hunger
In an economic recession philanthropic dollars are hard to come by as a number of companies and brands must think of survival first and charity second, but one iconic candy maker recently launched a campaign to give back to America. Snickers, a Mars snack food brand, is teaming up with Feeding America to help feed the hungry. The campaign titled “Bar Hunger” is setup to help the one in eight Americans who are struggling with hunger on a daily basis. Snickers tagline for years has been “satisfies hunger”, so for them to join Feeding America in order to raise donations to help the hungry fits perfectly with their brand image. Plus the title of their campaign, bar hunger, helps with brand reinforcement. The campaign is great for so many reasons beyond its primary purpose, as Snickers has thought up some pretty creative marketing ideas to bring awareness to their campaign.
Snickers has stated that they will donate the equivalent of at least three million meals to Feeding America in 2009. The candy giant could have stopped there, but they instead have made a commitment to inspire and educate Americans to help their cause. Snickers, through an integrated mix of media tactics including social media, national advertising and its current packaging, have thought up some different ways to get Americans on board. To launch the campaign Snickers teamed up with Feeding America’s chairman of the entertainment council, David Arquette. The actor spent two days atop the world most famous sports arena, Madison Square Garden, in a clear Plexiglas media lounge. During his period atop the Garden, Arquette performed a number of interviews with national newspapers, radio personalities including Howard Stern and national television morning shows in order to communicate, the message of feeding the hungry.
Snickers wanted to do something big to kick off the campaign so they placed a large billboard next to Arquette asking consumers who wished to donate $5 to text the word “BAR” to 90999. The technology would then allow the consumers to simply add the cost onto their wireless bill with all proceeds going toward Feeding America. The text link will stay open throughout the rest of the year and Snickers will sponsor more events throughout 2009. The next one planned for Snickers is this Sunday when Kyle Bush will drive a Bar Hunger Nascar in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, held at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Snickers will be trying to get consumers to their Facebook page during all Snickers events and through all Snickers marketing. Once on that Facebook page, consumers can join the cause, become a fan of Snickers and most importantly, donate to Feeding America. Consumers who wish to donate will be transported to a simple donation form though Facebook. Currently over $33,554 has been donated though the Snickers Facebook page.
In a day where most companies are tightening up their budgets and thinking of themselves, it’s nice to see a brand like Snickers giving back to the American people. Not only does it make sense for the brand to give back to hunger, something they have been satisfying for years, but it positions the company favorably to all its potential target audiences. Keep an eye out for more Snickers promotions and, in case you missed their latest TV commercial, take a look it features Patrick Chewing!
Tags: Advertising, Snickers, Social Media
