Kraft Mac & Cheese Targets New Consumers

I came across an interesting marketing story on AdAge about how Kraft Heinz is creating a new brand extension: Cracker Barrel brand Mac and Cheese! This article was interesting to me not only because I am interested in branding, but because I absolutely love mac and cheese. Prior to reading this article, I did not realize that Cracker Barrel was sold by the Kraft brand. Their new strategy to create a new mac and cheese product using Cracker Barrel cheese is extremely strategic and sounds delicious!

Through work created by their outsourced advertising agency, Kraft recently launched a new campaign to promote the new Cracker Barrel mac and cheese. Their commercial shows a man presenting an award at a spelling bee, making note of the fact that Cracker Barrel has won so many awards for their delicious cheeses in the past. Not only is this campaign funny and creative, the reason behind the brand extension is genius.

In many of the brand analytics assignment presentations, students discussed the consumer base that primarily purchases their brand. But, what if brands went so far as to target their less popular consumer base? This is exactly what Kraft did. Kraft found that they were lacking in sales from consumers that are in families with older children that prefer to buy prepared mac an cheese as opposed to shelf-stable packaged mac and cheese. To win over these consumers, Kraft decided to take their core competency of making mac and cheese, combine it with their Cracker Barrel cheese brand, and create a "premium" macaroni and cheese.

Mac and cheese is a staple in many people's childhoods, as it is an easy and fun meal to eat. Once people grow older, they often grow out of shelf-stable products like this, and turn to more "mature" foods, or pre-made dishes. By trying to influence consumer perception in creating a more high-end kind of mac and cheese made with quality cheese ingredients, Kraft can target those consumers who might have previously grown out of their mac and cheese phase. As stated in the article, Kraft is trying to reach out to consumers who are "looking for 'quality foods with more sophisticated flavors'". As for as in-store positioning, the product will be a premium to traditional boxed mac and cheese products, but will be below refrigerated or pre-made mac and cheeses. Although there are no artificial dyes or flavors, there are preservatives in this product.

Overall, I think that this is a really good move by Kraft. Because they're already so successful in their existing brands, it only makes sense that they will continue to grow their business through new products. I am curious to see if Kraft will be successful in trying to gain more consumers in the "older children/more mature families". I'm eager to get out and try this new mac and cheese!