Almost everyone loves peanut butter. In the United States, it's a lucrative $2 billion-a-year market.
That's why Hormel Foods Corp. acquired the legendary Skippy brand 18 months ago from Unilever for $700 million.
Now the Austin, Minn.-based food giant hopes to schmooze its existing consumer base and wrest market share from its main rival — the spread whose campaign tagline for years has been, "Choosy mothers choose Jif."
Beginning Monday, Skippy will run TV advertisements for the first time since 2009 in its key geographic markets, including Minnesota, and unveil a social media campaign all under the buzzword "Yippee."
The marketing rollout is the product of BBDO Minneapolis, the Upper Midwest office of the New York-based ad agency that was established in the Twin Cities more than 80 years ago to handle the advertising needs of Hormel.
"Our goal is to reconnect with Skippy lovers. It's been more than five years since Skippy has been on the air with an ad," said Mike Guanella, Hormel's senior product manager for Skippy. "Skippy is an important contribution to our [grocery] division and is going to be an important driver of growth."
Hormel recorded sales of $8.8 billion in 2013, of which $1.5 billion came from grocery products.
The ad campaign is about making Skippy the "fun" peanut butter choice of consumers.