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Executive Summary
The “How iCook Barbecue Battle” is a marketing strategy utilizing a recipe contest
where contestants creatively use Jay D’s products as a featured ingredient. This approach will
push sales of Jay D’s product line, in addition to connecting with consumers on a more personal
level. The main idea behind this campaign is to push sales of Jay D’s products through a recipe
contest held online. Contestants would enter to win a $850 cash prize and have their recipe
featured in a fast motion recipe video that will be spread over several social media sites. The
contest will be advertised mainly through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; although
promotional videos would be uploaded to YouTube as well. A website would be created where
users would register and upload recipes with images of the dish. Those recipes would be voted
on by friends and fans of each contestant and the winner would be chosen by the recipe with the
most votes at the end of the contest. In order to spread the word about their recipes, contestants
will share their recipe on their personal social media pages using the hashtag #howicook and
tagging @hugjayd. After the contest, more fast motion style videos would be made with the
recipes featured on hugjayd.com. The contest will be promoted via Facebook for 4 months at a
cost of $2,500 with aquired page likes averaging 7,200 over the length of the campaign. It will
also be promoted on Instagram with an average CPM (cost per thousand views) of around $6.50.
With 10,000 views the Instagram ad will cost around $650. The cost of building and hosting the
contest website would be around $6000. Adding in the cash prize for the winner, we total out at
$10,000.
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Structure
1. Customers
1.1. Basic Information
1.2. What to Look For
2. Jay D’s How iCook BBQ Battle
2.1. Theme
2.2. Goal
3. Social Media Marketing Mix
3.1. Social Media Mediums Used
3.2. Overall Campaign Outline
3.2.1. Campaign Schedule
3.2.2. Contest Outline
3.2.3 Contest Website Layout
` 3.3. Facebook
3.4. Twitter
3.5. Instagram
3.6. YouTube
4. Financials
5. Measuring the Campaign
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1. Customers
1.1. Basic Information
The key targeted audience for this spring and summer marketing campaign are young
adults, both working singles and parents, between the ages of 20 and 39 who are concerned with
eating fresh products for themselves and their children1. According to recent studies, up to 40%
of households with children state that they are buying more natural products today than they did
last year3. The audience we will be focusing on are those with mid-to-high-level incomes in both
cities and suburban areas, that are interested in the latest food trends, and product developments.
They desire food that is unique and interesting and look for an all-around exciting experience
when they shop for food. This target consumer is more interested in natural supermarkets than
regular grocery stores. The consumption of fresh foods has grown by 20 percent from 2003 to
2013, and it’s coming from some of the younger generations. Currently, young to middle-aged
adults make up over 30% of the U.S. population and are a multicultural and diverse audience2.
This adult age group is important to brands because they tend to be more financially well-off in
comparison to their younger counterparts, giving them more significant buying power.
1.2. What to Look For
As the “clean eating” trend continues, grocery stores and food manufacturers are seeing a
move towards fresh, perishable foods. This marketing campaign will focus on profiling
consumers who spend 50% or more of their grocery bill on fresh foods.
When marketing to this audience, it is important for companies to identify shared values
between brands and this generation of consumers. Millennials, we are told, wish to reach beyond
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the grim concerns of their age and achieve happiness. What's more, when analyzing responses
from more than 3,500 millennial adults, genXers, and baby boomers, we found that almost all of
these consumers (97%) place a premium on happiness and a similar, overwhelming majority
(95%) say that health is paramount4. Linking health and happiness is at the very tip of the value
pyramid and has profound implications for brand marketing and communications. Consumers
expect more from the companies and brands vying for their attention. With so many purchasing
choices available online, in stores, locally, nationally and around the globe, brand loyalty is
based on trust and does not come easily. In marketing campaigns, transparency and emotional
currency count for everything. Millennials, as digital natives, are expert researchers and fact
checkers. Statements, contexts, bills of sale and balance sheets are easily vetted across the
consumer's peer and social networks to expose anything trumped up or sensationalized.
The recession has prompted many consumers of specialty foods to cook more often at
home and to plan more meals ahead of time. In our particular target market, they are 38% more
likely to love to cook and are 25% more likely to follow trends in food and cooking5. Our target
consumers are 40% more likely to purchase locally grown food at every chance and are 29%
more likely to say a company’s social consciousness and overall kindness is very important when
choosing where to shop and what to buy. Therefore, it is extremely important to have a
wholesome company and a good brand image5.
For the shopping strategy of this target market, this consumer typically shops the
perimeter of the grocery store, where fresh foods are typically located. They try to avoid the
center aisles where junk foods can be found6. Because this is a consumer that is looking for
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fresher items for their grocery list, they tend to create a grocery list before shopping and also take
more frequent trips to the grocery store for smaller batches of grocery items.
Food marketed as “locally grown” or “natural” is cutting out its own slice of the overall
agriculture pie. More consumers are gravitating toward health claims such as local, natural and
organic7. Consumers are influenced to become aware about local food and products through a
variety of ways. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the local food marketplace. Local
chefs, food writers, and restaurateurs are now embracing and contributing to the food revolution;
deciding to cook, savor and celebrate the food on their doorsteps. The local food distribution
networks rely on two primary markets: the direct-to-consumer market and the direct-to-retail
foodservice market. This means that farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture
programs, and other direct-to-consumer programs are all potential ways in which consumers are
made aware of local products and foods.8
Gone are the days when big brands occupied a special place in the consumer market in
terms of brand value and face. That is because going local has become the new trend and a large
number of customers today choose to prefer locally manufactured products than one of those
brands that has got a big name labeled on it. In a national survey conducted, 75% of businesses
reported having local customers occupying more than half of their consumer base, while one
third of the businesses have the local community occupying their entire consumer base9.
Interestingly, the most popular promotional mediums practiced by these businesses are – email
and social media marketing.
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2. Jay D’s “How iCook BBQ Battle”
2.1. Theme
The overall theme of this social media campaign will be Jay D’s “How iCook BBQ
Battle”. This campaign will strive to make the target customer feel involved in the company by
holding a recipe contest online. The winner would have their recipe featured on hugjayd.com,
and would be featured in a short fast motion recipe video that will be promoted via social media
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The main idea is to promote the
versatility of the product as more than just a simple barbecue sauce. In addition to making the
customer feel involved, it will allow the marketing budget to go farther because less time and
effort will be spent on product promotion as the contestant will be incentivized to promote their
recipe on their own to win. The use of the hashtag #howicook will be central to the theme of the
contest as contestants will use this in all promotion of their recipe.
2.2. Goal
The goal of this campaign is to promote the many uses of Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue
Sauce. It aims to promote more creative uses of Jay D’s products for more than the obvious ways
to use sauces and rubs. It should inspire trained and aspiring chefs alike to create simple but
enticing recipes that anyone can make at home. By using the sauce as a necessary ingredient in
the recipes, it will help to drive sales of the product. This approach will entice chefs to enter the
contest not only to promote a great product but also their own name in the culinary world. This
marketing strategy will deliver opportunities for self expression and brand co-creation. It utilizes
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two-way communication and peer to peer sharing, allowing the consumer to feel socially
connected to the brand.
3. Social Media Marketing Mix
3.1. Social Media Mediums Used
While it will be crucial to have a strong presence on all of the popular social media
platforms, one of the most important is Facebook. Not only is Facebook the most popular social
media site overall, it is most popular with our target demographic of young adults (see Figure 1),
between the ages of 20 and 39. While @hugjayd is fairly popular with 1,178 followers on
Twitter and 1,401 on Instagram, the Jay Ducote Facebook page has the largest reach with 7,200
likes.
Figure 1
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3.2. Overall Campaign Outline
3.2.1. Campaign Schedule
The contest should start no later than early April or late March. This will give time for a
winner to be chosen and a feature video to be made and shared before the end of the barbecue
season in July.
3.2.2. Contest Outline
The main focus of this campaign is the recipe contest. The strategy is to encourage
consumers to create recipes using Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue sauce as a featured ingredient.
The contestant will upload a recipe and pictures of each dish to a dedicated contest website.
There will be a link to share their recipe from the dedicated site on their personal social media
pages. The winner will be chosen by a popular vote and each contestant will have to promote
their recipe on their personal social media platforms using the hashtag #howicook. In addition to
a cash prize of $850, the winner will receive their recipe featured on hugjayd.com and have a
short fast motion video of their recipe, similar to the BuzzFeed Food videos popular on
Facebook, created and distributed over major social media platforms.
3.2.3. Contest Website Layout
The website for the contest will be set up in a way to allow contestants to upload details
and pictures of their recipe after registering with their name and email address. While registering
the contestant will have the option to enroll in the Jay D’s mailing list. Once submitted the
website will automatically generate a generalized page specific to their recipe. This page will
allow fans to vote on their favorite recipe as well as share it across multiple social media
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platforms with one click. The main page of the website will include the recipes with the most
votes at the top and encourage visitors to vote for and share the recipe of their choice. It will also
include links to all of Jay D’s social media outlets.
3.3. Facebook
Facebook will be the main avenue of advertisement for the contestants’ unique recipes
and the contest itself, as our key demographic uses Facebook more than any other social
networking site. Currently there is no fan page on Facebook dedicated to Jay D’s Products so the
first step is to create one. In order to drive likes and shares of the page this marketing strategy
will take advantage of Facebook’s “Promote Page” features. If the page is promoted within 50
miles of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, Shreveport, and Lake Charles, it will cost $20 a
day and garner an average of 65 likes every day. The promotion will last for 4 months during the
campaign. Using this information, we can expect an average of 1,800 likes every 28 days for a
total of 7200 likes over the length of the campaign.
After uploading their recipe to the contest website, there will be a share feature which
will allow contestants to share their personal recipes over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In
these shared posts, there will be a link to their specific recipe page on the contest website where
fans of each recipe can vote to choose which recipe is the best. The Jay D’s Facebook page will
also be promoting the contest with well put together graphics that will entice people to enter the
contest and vote for their favorite recipe. Below you will find an example of a Facebook page for
Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce.
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3.4. Twitter
Twitter is the second most popular social media platform among the target audience and
therefore will also be critical in promoting the brand as well as the contest. Just like on
Facebook, contestants will be able to tweet the URL to their personal recipe page along with the
hashtag #howicook in order to promote it. A Twitter presence for Jay D’s products is also
paramount to a successful marketing campaign. The @hugjayd Twitter handle will be used to
promote the contest as well as tweet recipes that Jay personally likes. This will serve to further
incentivize contestants to be creative and stick out with their recipes.
3.5. Instagram
With Instagram being more popular among the younger consumers in our demographic, a
strong presence here will also be key to pulling off this campaign. The contestant will be
encouraged to upload pictures of their creative recipes, as well as a link to the recipe’s web page
on their personal Instagram. Using the hashtag #howicook and tagging the @hugjayd Instagram
account will help keep the contest linked to the @hugjayd account. The @hugjayd Instagram
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will also feature Jay’s favorite recipes that were tweeted to further incentivize the contestant. The
@hugjayd handle, as well as the contest, will be promoted through paid advertisements via
Instagram’s Ad Manager. The average CPM (Cost per Thousand views) for Instagram ads is
around $6.50. The goal is around 10,000 views total, costing $650. Below you will find example
posts from both @hugjayd and a contestant respectively.
3.6. YouTube
YouTube will be used to upload videos promoting the contest to be shared across every
other social media platform. Currently Jay D’s has no presence on YouTube, but with the
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implementation this campaign, it will become a vital tool in the company’s marketing strategy.
Once the winner of the recipe contest is chosen, the winner will work with Jay D’s marketing
team to create the very first “Jay D’s Recipe Short”. After the contest is over, the marketing team
can use other recipes that are already featured on the Jay D’s website to create more “Jay D’s
Recipe Short” videos. These videos will be roughly one minute long and feature a fast motion
preparation of the recipe, with a link to the specifics of each dish in the video description. These
can then be shared on the social media pages of Jay D’s and also shared amongst fans of the Jay
D’s family of products.
4. Financials
Overall budget:
Website $6,000
Facebook Promotion for 4 mo. $2,500
Instagram Ads @ $6.50 CPM with 10,000 Views $650
Cash Prize for Contest Winner $850
Grand Total $10,000
5. Measuring the Campaign
It goes without saying that marketing is one of the biggest and most important
expenditures that any company will make. After all, if you are not doing the right things to add to
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your customer base, then your company is not going to grow in both size and revenue. That is
why effective marketing campaigns are critical to the continued success of any business12.
To measure the success of the “How iCook BBQ Battle” campaign, we will enlist the use
of analytical marketing tools that are available in order to gather data from Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. For example, SumAll can be used to analyze a huge number of assorted,
connected apps. You can wire up your major social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram– and SumAll will send out a daily or weekly email with insights on how things have
changed day-to-day and week-to-week. All the info is saved to a web dashboard, too, for easy
viewing any time. In addition, Google Analytics can be used to analyze website traffic. And as
part of the analysis, you can dig into the referral stats on your social media marketing as well.
You can check out how many visits your site receives from each of the major social networks, in
addition to the direct impact of social on the goals and paths as well13.
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Appendix
1https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/fresh-food-consumption-will-
continue-to-grow-over-next-five-years-and-youngest-generations-will-be-driving-trend/
2http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/demographic.html
3http://brandongaille.com/17-incredible-whole-foods-customer-demographics/
4http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/marketing_to_health-consciousmillennials_631213
5http://civicscience.com/ourinsights/insightreports/insight-report-clean-eating-whos-shopping-
the-perimeter/
6http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/10-tips-for-healthy-grocery-shopping?page=3
7http://newhope.com/new-products/consumers-ideas-healthy-foods-changing
8http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/local-regional-food-systems
9http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/07/local-businesses-more-customers/
10http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/9-major-social-networks-age/
11http://www.pennapowers.com/how-much-do-ads-on-instagram-cost/
12http://www.cleverism.com/how-to-measure-effectiveness-of-marketing-campaigns/
13https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-analytics-tools