DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — Ball Park announced today the launch of a new national advertising and 360° marketing campaign, Men. Easier Fed Than Understood, a campaign that celebrates the guys in women’s lives while calling attention to the quirky and sometimes nonsensical behavior these guys take part in before ultimately reaching the conclusion that men are “easier fed than understood.” The new campaign builds upon and reinforces the Ball Park brand positioning as the quintessential maker of “guy food” – food that not only fills guys up, but is easy to prepare and is flavorful, meaty and fun to eat.
The advertising was created by Publicis Seattle and is the first new creative since Ball Park named the agency as its AOR in June 2011. The campaign is targeted toward women who buy guy foods for the men in their lives to promote “guy time” and the unique – and often impossible to understand – nuances of what men do when they get together. The campaign will bring to life those everyday “guy time” moments while also showcasing a variety of the high-quality products from the Ball Park portfolio, with the first spot to feature Ball Park Angus Beef Franks.
The multi-level marketing campaign will feature print, TV, digital, social media, in-store activations and public relations, as well as the re-launch of the Ball Park website www.ballparkbrand.com and Facebook page www.facebook.com/BallParkFranks.
“In recent years, we have worked hard to expand Ball Park from the maker of America’s number one selling beef hot dog* into a key player in the ‘guy food’ space, providing consumers with products that are not just hearty and flavorful, but easy to prepare and fun to eat. The launch of this new campaign is the next step in the evolution of the Ball Park brand,” said Aaron Alt, General Manager of the Ball Park Brand. “We crafted a campaign that is quintessential Ball Park – engaging, humorous and all about guy food and guy time – sure to resonate with our consumers and unique to our brand.”
Added Alt, “Our first spot, ‘99% Sure,’ taps into our brand’s rich heritage in baseball while taking a fun, contemporary look at what guy time is all about.”
The new creative launched on Jan. 21 with a :30 second television spot airing nationally and a number of additional spots timed to roll out over the course of the next few months. The campaign will also appear across a variety of social media channels beginning immediately, specifically on Facebook, where consumers can go to receive an exclusive offer from Ball Park.
TV: “99 % Sure” (:30)
•“99% Sure” opens with men standing in a backyard at a family barbecue. The guys have taken their places around a grill while the rest of the party is enjoying a summer day in the background. The guys are talking baseball, doing the stat one-upsmanship thing while grilling and eating fully loaded Ball Park Angus Beef Franks.
“Backyard barbecues, stats and tasty, easy-to-eat food are what guys love. They’re just part of our natural DNA,” says Jason Sullivan, SVP Group Director at Publicis Seattle. “Stats are part of our language and the social currency among other guys. And the unrelenting ribbing is our way of showing affection. It’s just how it is. The power of the campaign lies in its simplicity around guy time and Ball Park’s guy food, and a truth that women already know: Men are just easier to feed than understand.”
About Ball Park
The Ball Park brand was launched in 1957 in response to a request from the owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. The Ball Park Frank was such a success, it was expanded nationally. Today, Ball Park products can be found in supermarkets, convenience stores and a variety of sports venues– including Detroit’s Comerica Park. For more information, visit www.ballparkbrand.com.
About Sara Lee Corporation
Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) and it's leading portfolio of food and beverage brands, including Ball Park, Douwe Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Pickwick Teas, Sara Lee and Senseo, generate nearly $9 billion in annual net sales from continuing operations and employ approximately 20,000 people worldwide. In January, 2011, Sara Lee Corp. announced that it will divide the company into two pure -play publicly-traded companies, one focused on the international coffee and tea market and the other on North American meats. For more information on the company, please visit www.saralee.com.
About Publicis Worldwide in the USA
Publicis Worldwide in the USA is the North American operating unit of Paris-based Publicis Worldwide, the largest global agency network within the world’s third largest communications company, Paris-based Publicis Groupe. The Publicis USA mission is ‘Creating Contagious Ideas that Change the Conversation’.
* Source: TOTAL U.S. FDM + WAL-MART FDMx 52 weeks ending December 11, 2011
Source: Sara Lee Corporation