When the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) launched its consumer canned food awareness campaign in 1994, the healthy image of canned food had long expired.
Many consumers believed that canned food had no nutritional value and usually contained high levels of sodium and preservatives. They also believed the cans could not be recycled.
These stale perceptions were hurting the steel industry. Tinplate sales - the steel used to produce cans - were predicted to decline 3% per year from 1994 to 1996.
AISI also feared that tinplate might meet the same fate as steel cans once used for soda - they've become almost extinct, given aluminum's dominance in the market.
To renew consumer interest and trust in canned food, AISA hired Ketchum Public Relations in Pittsburgh to develop a five-year, $12.5 million consumer awareness initiative. The campaign, which culminated in 1998, used a series of national research projects, high-profile events, online recipe promotions and media relations to move the needle toward positive perceptions of canned food.
Debunking Canned Food Myths
Initially, the campaign's primary objectives were to boost awareness among women 25-54 that canned food is nutritious, convenient and recyclable, says Bob Fatzinger, executive director of the Canned Food Alliance, an arm of AISI. Highly visible, broad-reach PR tactics helped to achieve these goals.
For instance, Ketchum secured two national spokeswomen - Melanie Barnard, a well-known cookbook author and columnist for Bon Appetit, and Dr. Barbara Klein, professor of food science at the University of Illinois - to lend credibility to the recipe-friendliness and nutritional value of canned foods.
National Canned Food Month received a fashionable facelift in February 1997 when Ketchum organized a canned food fashion show at New York City's Fashion Cafe. The event, which featured Ivana Trump, a supermodel and five chefs modeling their canned food recipes, reached more than 25 million consumers through media outlets such as The Today Show, CNN and the TV Food Network.
Feeding the Media
The campaign also gave the media a fresh look at canned food through a news bureau, which sought opportunistic media placements. The bureau ultimately generated more than 40 million media impressions.
One prime media score: The Editors Harvest Tour in 1997. The tour invited key editors from women-focused lifestyle and food publications to see the canning process and to have a first look at a major national study conducted by the University of Illinois.
The study showed that canned foods are nutritionally equal, and sometimes better, than fresh and frozen foods. This tour played a major role in legitimizing canned foods and removing some of the media's skepticism, says Melissa Murphy, Ketchum's account supervisor.
In 1998, the campaign began to narrow its focus to women 25-34, as this demographic was found to be the most receptive to canned food messages.
To reach this younger target, Ketchum developed a Web site (www.mealtime.org) that features a frequently updated recipe database, recipe contests and food and nutrition information.
The Web site has proven an invaluable resource for interacting with consumers and responding to issues that traditional research would not capture, says Murphy. For example, when several visitors inquired about how they should handle Y2K food storage issues, this query sparked a perfect opportunity to educate consumers on updating cabinets and pantries with canned foods that had appropriate expiration dates.
Overall, the campaign's media relations activities reached 570 million consumers.
Category Clout
Ironically, the campaign did not initially include support from the most obvious industry associations - the National Food Processors Association and the Can Manufacturers Institute.
Although these organizations were aware of canned food's declining sales, they didn't see the value of investing in a generic category campaign and were more concerned with individual product efforts, Fatzinger says.
But the campaign's success in improving canned food's image ultimately swayed not only consumer behavior, but also industry perceptions of the category.
This year, the steel industry was able to scale back its financial support, as can makers contributed 25 percent of the dollars needed to fund the annual $2.3 million campaign. Food processors are coming on board in 2000. The steel industry hopes to see these groups take primary ownership of the effort in the future, Fatzinger says.
In the meantime, research-based messages, strategic partnering and budget accountability will be deployed to generate additional buy-in, Murphy says.
(Ketchum, Melissa Murphy, 412/456-3877; AISI, Bob Fatzinger, 202/452-7135)
Results in the Can
- Canned food sales increased 1.9% from 1994 to 1996, according to Supermarket Business magazine.
- Tinplate shipments increased 11% over market projections, from 1993 to 1996.
- 55% of consumers recognized canned food as more or equally nutritious as frozen food, according to a National Family Opinion survey.