Throughout the next few months, I will be blogging about the Fortune 500 company, KRAFT Foods. My goal is to be able to gain a better understanding of how this HUGE company displays itself to the public. I think it will be both interesting and informative to observe this company's publicity tactics. In terms of what audience (s) they are targeting, what advertisements they use, how they handle crisis maters (if any come up), what their website entails, and so on- there are numerous resources to explore! Let's see what kind of appetite KRAFT stirs up in me...
So why KRAFT Foods? Well, deep down there is a part of me that wants to drop out of college and enroll in culinary school. Not only do I love to cook, but I just I love and am genuinely interested in food. From its wonderful fragrance, taste and comforting effects- food just makes me feel good, to put it bluntly. I want to get into a field of PR that I truly am passionate about, which happens to be food (well, for right now). KRAFT is an ideal company for me to follow; not only is it massive (and therefore a naturally intruiging company), but (according to Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_Foods it is the 2nd largest food and beverage company in the United States, and the 3rd largest in the world! Although my company is not exactly the Food Network (which I would love to work for some day) or a restaurant chain like Chili's, it is in the food industry and thus related to my passion: food.
According to their corporate site, KRAFT is all about helping people around the world "eat and live better" by providing "the best-know brands among the globe" http://www.kraft.com/About/ . Even at the very top of their corporate website is a picture of children (note: a very ethnically diverse display of children) smiling and holding KoolAid juice boxes, see above. Futhermore, on Kraft.com the viewer can either choose to enter their recipe site, corporate site, or charitable donation site. Thus KRAFT is showing they are involved in the community, like the Starbucks and Target companies, by making charitible causes to needy organizations- as a result, we the customers, feel even better about purchasing their products.
KRAFT owns several different brands that we are familiar with. Come on, who doesn't love Philadelphia Cream Cheese on their bagel in the morning or those sinfully delicious OREO cookies? (actually they claim to be American's favorite cookie) They are all brands that Americans are familiar with. What I believe is their "catch"; or what makes them unique, is quite simply, their products. Under the "Who We Are" section on their website, KRAFT defines themselves as providing their products to "People who want truly delicious foods that fit the way they live" http://www.kraft.com/About/who-we-are/. These various products, like Oscar Mayer, Maxwell Coffee or those "To Go!" Ritz Crackers (above) are convenience foods, in other words, they are p
ractical food choices for the busy family, which in the United States, is key. KRAFT markets these brands as being brands that "consumers know and trust" http://www.kraft.com/About/who-we-are/-we-are/. However, what makes us trust a brand? For me, one factor in trusting a product is how long that brand has been around. For example, I never hesitate to buy Heinz ketchup (not a KRAFT brand)- the product has been around forever, it was my grandfather's favorite condiment as a child and to this day, and is also a favorite condiment for millions of people. Therefore I trust that I am buying a quality food product with Heinz Ketchup. KRAFT Foods "business" is about providing well-known, quality food brands to their consumers. Now, it is interesting to explore this company's reputation. Being that the company is in food services and obvoiusly their consumers physically consume their products- KRAFT's "bottoms" (for lack of a more vulgar term) are on the line. I mean, think about how much scrutiny the peanut butter distribution companies are under due to the current salmonella scare. When it comes to a person's physical well-beings and health, people and/or the consumers will be very concerned about what food they are eating. Evidently, KRAFT understands this. For example, according to a November 2008 poll on FoodProcessing.com, KRAFT Foods ranked number 7 on the world's "Most Reputable Companies" http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2008/098.html . In addition, KRAFT earned the number 1 position on the Reputation Institute's "Corporate Reputations of Largest U.S. Food Companies"http://reputationinstitute.com/events/US_Food_Industry_Results-Global_Pulse_08.pdf
df. There were barely any issues I found online about KRAFT's reputation; however I managed to find one. According to an article on NationMaster.com, in 1992 a KRAFT's Atlantic Gelatin Plant, located in Woburn, Mass., (which supplies Jell-O) "came under scrutiny for a history of noxious smells, toxic waste releases into Boston Harbor, and a policy of corporate secrecy" http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Kraft-Foods. In 1993, the plant was fined $250,000 for violating the Clear Air Act of 1970.
So far, KRAFT seems to really be a trusting company. For example, on their main website, on the very top of the page there is a link to the current peanut butter crisis (in which KRAFT states that none of their products have been re-called), and there is even a consumer alert link on the top as well that people can click on: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx. By being this pro-active about the current peanut butter situation, KRAFT is being both positive and smart about the peanut butter crisis by making sure the news is accessible for all to see. They are showing consumers that the peanut butter dilemma is one of their top priorities, and thus the well-being of their consumer is also their top priority. As a consumer, it feels good knowing that KRAFT not only understands the peanut butter situation, but they are also encouraging their webpage visitors to find out more information about it. As a result, from a consumer perspective, I feel more confident buying their product.
Take at look at the advertisment KRAFT put in the Strait Times, a large circulation newspaper in Singapore, about milk products from china back in September 2008:
Does is make you feel confident about purchasing oreos? It does for me.
I would imagine that the challenges PR people might have at KRAFT would have to with food crisis, like the peanut butter re-call. Since food can get contaminated- like the peanut butter and a few years ago the spinach epidemic, it will freak people out and cause them not to buy the food also. Also issues, like nutrition such as how much fat a products contains, would turn people off from buying KRAFT's products. Like I mentioned previously, since KRAFT is selling products that are consumed by human's and could therefore effect a human's well-being, any issue that would cause the consumer to think that a KRAFT product is negatively affecting their health would cause an issue. It would be a challenge to alert the consumer public on product information and also to maintain positive public attitude on the product.
So far, KRAFT seems to really be a trusting company. For example, on their main website, on the very top of the page there is a link to the current peanut butter crisis (in which KRAFT states that none of their products have been re-called), and there is even a consumer alert link on the top as well that people can click on: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx. By being this pro-active about the current peanut butter situation, KRAFT is being both positive and smart about the peanut butter crisis by making sure the news is accessible for all to see. They are showing consumers that the peanut butter dilemma is one of their top priorities, and thus the well-being of their consumer is also their top priority. As a consumer, it feels good knowing that KRAFT not only understands the peanut butter situation, but they are also encouraging their webpage visitors to find out more information about it. As a result, from a consumer perspective, I feel more confident buying their product.
Take at look at the advertisment KRAFT put in the Strait Times, a large circulation newspaper in Singapore, about milk products from china back in September 2008:
Does is make you feel confident about purchasing oreos? It does for me.I would imagine that the challenges PR people might have at KRAFT would have to with food crisis, like the peanut butter re-call. Since food can get contaminated- like the peanut butter and a few years ago the spinach epidemic, it will freak people out and cause them not to buy the food also. Also issues, like nutrition such as how much fat a products contains, would turn people off from buying KRAFT's products. Like I mentioned previously, since KRAFT is selling products that are consumed by human's and could therefore effect a human's well-being, any issue that would cause the consumer to think that a KRAFT product is negatively affecting their health would cause an issue. It would be a challenge to alert the consumer public on product information and also to maintain positive public attitude on the product.
Nice work! I enjoyed reading this. Good content, good graphics and good links. You can make the links read something other than the URL you are linking to - looks better and more interesting. Keep up the good work!
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