ConAgra Foods Receives Gold Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Shopper Marketing

OMAHA, Neb.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America’s leading food makers was awarded Gold, the top honor, from the Advertising Research Foundation David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research last night in New York for its Shopper Seasons research and activation. The research won in the Shopper Marketing category.

“We’ve seen results in numbers, but we’ve also seen less quantifiable results from Shopper Seasons, including relationship building with our retail customers”

ConAgra Foods’ Shopper Seasons focuses on six seasons that consumers identified as having unique emotional and practical needs for their families. Stemming from research that showed 68 percent of moms feel that marketers don’t understand their needs, ConAgra Foods held one-on-one interviews and focus groups with a range of moms who encapsulate the brands’ core consumers. Six seasons were identified throughout the process – Post-Holiday, Spring, Summer, Back to School, October Fling and Holiday.

“We found that the same six seasons exist for moms across the country, but the emotions, needs and desires may vary,” said Danica Konetski, senior director of Shopper Insights for ConAgra Foods. “For example, Back To School season may be a relief for preschool moms and more stressful for elementary moms – by uncovering the emotional connections, we can find those ways in which brands like Orville Redenbacher’s or Hunt’s Snack Pack are most relevant to each mom.”

Using the research and insights, ConAgra Foods focused on the six seasons to build unique campaigns for its retail partners—grocery stores and other food outlets. Shopper Marketing programs focused on the Shopper Seasons have shown an average return-on-investment that is 30 percent higher than other ConAgra Foods Shopper Marketing programs.

“We’ve seen results in numbers, but we’ve also seen less quantifiable results from Shopper Seasons, including relationship building with our retail customers,” Konetski said. “Seasons has allowed us a seat at the table for more strategic, collaborative planning and opened up deeper sharing of insights and strategies.”

Named after advertising legend David Ogilvy, The ARF David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research honor extraordinary and/or creative uses of research in the advertising development processes of research firms, advertising agencies, and advertisers. The winning campaigns provide a keen understanding of how research can be used to create powerful, profitable advertising campaigns.

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s leading food companies, with brands in 96 percent of America’s households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.