Smartfood aims for end of day satisfaction

Popcorn as a secret indulgence for women? That’s the idea behind new packaging and a new ad campaign for Smartfood.

The longstanding shiny finish on Smartfood bags was replaced with a stylish matte look last month. At the same time PepsiCo added a new flavour to the Smartfood line—jalapeno cheddar.

To coincide with those changes, a TV, online and in-store ad campaign is now out. It promotes Smartfood as a snack for women to celebrate end-of-day “me-time.”

In the TV ad, a twentysomething woman comes home from work to find no one else is home. Delighted, she pulls a bag of Smartfood hidden in the cookie jar to enjoy all to herself.

The ad’s tag line, “Smartfood hits the spot,” aims to convey to Smartfood’s target customer, women 25 to 45, the notion of a “party of one,” said Shereen Yasseen, director of marketing at PepsiCo Foods.

Yasseen said that consumer research showed that women tend to enjoy their favourite snacks at the end of the day.

They have “a busy life and busy family, and often when they have a moment to themselves, they reach for that favourite snack to find it has already been eaten by their children or partner,” she said.
 



To promote the idea of hiding Smartfood for solitary snacking, PepsiCo created the hashtag #SmartStash.

Elements of the TV campaign are incorporated into point-of-sale in stores and the #SmartStash tag is appearing on wobblers on shelves.

As for the packaging change, Yasseen said that consumer testing of both shiny- and matte-finished bags revealed more excitement for the matte look, though one thing remains the same: Smartfood’s trademark black colour.

“Packaging is always seen as the best way to build loyalty to your brand,” she said.