This Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, Jennie-O Turkey Store, a wholly owned subsidiary of Austin, Minnesota-headquartered Hormel Foods, is encouraging busy hosts in the USA to give their families and friends the bird – a Jennie-O Oven Ready turkey, that is.
Its lighthearted media and digital campaign speaks directly to consumers who are shopping, cleaning, and balancing family obligations, and up to their elbows in food preparation for holiday get-togethers. Jennie-O Oven Ready turkey is promoted as “so easy to prepare that it takes the stress out of holiday meal planning.” First off, the product is pre-seasoned and goes right from the freezer to the oven with no thawing required.
“Holiday stress is a well-known phenomenon – so much so that it’s recognized by the American Psychological Association. The US Highbush Blueberry Council commissioned a ‘festive-stress’ study in 2017, reporting that 31 percent of Americans find the holiday season not only stressful, but downright frantic,” said Tanya Rodriguez, a cultural anthropologist employed by Hormel Foods.
The “Give Your Family the Bird” campaign, which includes 15- and 30-second advertising spots, is designed to offer a way to alleviate the frenzy associated with the holidays. In the spots, viewers see a relaxed dinner host reacting to otherwise frustrating or stressful real-life situations with a calm demeanor. Jennie-O Oven Ready turkey “is the easiest way to give your family the bird,” says the host. The spots will air on television as well as digital and social channels in select markets.
“This campaign revolves around something many of us can relate to: the fact that a holiday host doesn’t always have time to deal with everything that goes along with getting ready for the big meal,” said Brent Koosmann, marketing director at Jennie-O. “Giving the bird – a Jennie-O Oven Ready turkey – is a lighthearted look at a very simple way to take the hassle and stress out of preparing a whole turkey for your holiday get-together.”
In addition to offering an easy solution for that whole turkey on Thanksgiving Day, Jennie-O provides tools that consumers will find helpful for planning their Thanksgiving meal on the Jennie-O brand website – from calculators that tell the host how much turkey to buy, to full menus that inspire Thanksgiving dinner and suggestions for preparing leftovers.
Also, from now through November 25, consumers have the ability to live chat their turkey prep questions on www.jennieo.com or call 1-800-TURKEYS to speak with a representative. Moreover, the website is now also equipped with a Turkey Tracker where consumers can track whole turkey back to its originating farm.
