Carrots As Junk Food

Carrots as junk food
Can carrots use marketing principles and be sold like junk food?
Jeffrey Dunn, CEO of Bolthouse Farms in the US, wanted to make carrots the preferred snack
of youngsters. “Like most agricultural businesses, the company had been preoccupied for much
of its 93-year history with supply: getting its products—primarily carrots but also juices and
dressings—from the field and the factory to the family dinner table,” he says.
Carrots were sold as they always were—in supermarket shelves or in packs. Consumers bought
them and stored them in the vegetable tray of their refrigerators, where they stayed. How could
the company make carrots occupy the same space that potato chips and salted snacks enjoyed in
the minds of customers? On the face of it, it was an impossible task: selling them on the platform
of health snacks and highlighting the beneficial qualities of carrots might appear to mothers but
not to youngsters.
Positioning carrots as a snack food helped make it a big brand
Source: www.babycarrorts.com
The company had come up with a breakthrough product in the 1990s. Supermarkets bought
carrots of a particular size, shape and colour. Large and unseemly carrots had to be sold for juice
or animal feed, or just thrown away. A local grower, Yurosek, processed the carrots, peeled them,
cut them into pieces and sold them in bags. The 1-inch peeled round bites were called ‘bunny
balls’, while the peeled and cut 2-inches-long carrot pieces were sold as baby carrots.
Baby carrots were a big hit. They transformed the whole industry. Yields and profits climbed.
Moreover, they changed food habits: Americans loved them and carrots came to be accepted as
snacks. Carrot consumption in the United States increased as a result of this invention.
Now carrots needed another push. The obvious marketing message was to stress on the
healthful benefits of the product. But Dunn knew that a health campaign, talking about beta
carotene or cutting calories, would not work. He knew that the approach should be similar to that
of a soft drink or snack company: emotional, funny and something that appealed to impulse rather
than responsibility.
Using ethnographic research and focus groups, the company tried to discover how carrots were
used and how snack food companies influenced consumers. It found that while carrots went into
the vegetable drawer, baby carrots were visible since they were stored on a shelf. The challenge
was to get baby carrots into the category of junk foods.
Bolthouse’s traditional packaging worked in the vegetable category; the 2-pound bag of baby
carrots sold by it was too much work for consumers. They would unzip the bag to take out a baby
carrot or two, and then close the zip. To make people eat more carrots, it knew it wanted a
completely different approach. Baby carrots had to be sold as individual snack packs like potato
chips bags, with bold, graphics that placed it at par with junk food. The idea was to change eating
habits so that people could buy a pack of baby carrots and eat them as a convenience food.
The solution was to use marketing principles and tools to market carrots as a snack. In his
interview to Harvard Business Review, Dunn (2015) explains how he wanted to turn Bolthouse Farms
from a family farm business into an innovative, professionally managed and branded organization.
First, Dunn applied a simple principle, which he had learnt during his stint at Coca-Cola, that soft
drinks are sold one drink at a time. Bolthouse changed its juice packaging from large packs to
single-serve bottles with an aggressive price promotion. Within nine months, it became the top-
selling juice maker in the US. Then it started tweaking pricing and packaging strategies for its juices.
In 2010, it decided to launch carrot snack packs, with ranch and chili lime flavours, with an
expensive marketing campaign—‘Eat ’Em Like Junk Food’. The campaign used TV, print and
digital ads to sell baby carrots as potato chips and other snacks. It was an instant hit.
At the same time, the company expanded its distribution. The products were sold on vending
machines and large retailers such as 7-Eleven and Walmart. It started using Sesame Street
characters on its packaging. The product line was expanded to 27 varieties of juices and smoothies.
Using smart packaging, vegetable and fruit purees were put in squeezable tubes. The company
started distributing its products in grocery store chains and with big retailers such as Walmart and
Costco. The Bolthouse products were placed in the “snack” sections along with products that
were its direct and indirect competitors. The goal was to give parents a destination in stores where
they could find fresh and healthful food for their kids. It also started selling online. In doing so,
Bolthouse changed the image of vegetables in the consumer mind. The goal was to give parents a
destination in stores where they could reliably find fresh and healthy food for their kids. It also
started off selling online through delivery services. In doing so, Bolthouse changed the image of
vegetables in the consumer mind.
TV ads were supplemented with other activities. A Twitter feed @babycarrots poked fun at
popular junk food brands. Bolthouse vending machines were installed at two high schools, where
it competed with chips and soda. But the investment in marketing paid off. It launched an initiative
#urwhatupost, designed to encourage healthful eating through the sharing of ‘food porn’ images
via social media. It started using Sesame Street cartoon characters in its advertising, just like FMCG
companies.
Bolthouse also maintained price points like other companies. Most cold drinks and snacks in
the US were sold for less than a dollar. The company priced its Fruit Tubes at 40 cents each and
Veggie Snackers at 79 cents.
Since parents want more healthy snacks, Bolthouse had a new mission: ‘inspire the fresh
revolution’ to create a healthier society. Instead of harping on the health benefits of vegetables,
the company makes carrots seem cool, making them more likable and desirable. Apart from ads,
it supplements the marketing effort with top-notch customer research and innovative product
development. Veggie Snackers were introduced with flavours, just like other snacks.
In 2012, the company was acquired by Campbell, which has enabled Bolthouse to retain its
business and control operations, sales and marketing, while it gets R&D support from Campbell.
Distribution with big retailers is easier as part of a large company.
The success of ‘Eat ’Em Like Junk Food’ gave the company the courage to compete with the
world’s prominent food companies. Bolthouse Farms now sells nearly a billion pounds of carrots
a year under a number of different brand names and supermarket labels. Together with Grimmway
Farms, it controls more than 80 per cent of the carrot market in the US.
Questions for Discussion:

1. What other categories can use such an approach?
2. Imagine you work for a firm that sells milk and milk-derived products, which locally
popular product can you sell as a modern offering in the cities ?

Carrots As Junk Food

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Carrots As Junk Food

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Carrots As Junk Food

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Carrots as junk food

Questions for Discussion:

You might also like