Many food companies such as Nestle, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and general mills have been marketing to children through advergames (online games using products).  Because kids are spending so much time online, it allows marketers to easily reach them and promote their products.  In these games, players generally take the role of an animated food product and must accomplish the goal given.

Even though companies agreed to only market healthy products to children, a study has shown that 95 % of meals and 78 % of snacks advertised through games exceeded the USDA and FDA for total fat content; sugar and salt were also issues.  The fact that companies continue to market their unhealthy products to kids during a time when the childhood obesity rate is increasing is a serious issue.  Once children are exposed to these unhealthy food advertisements they build a brand preference and are able to persuade their parents into buying these products.  Another problem is that even if these companies put a restriction on what age demographic could access the games, there really are no borders on the internet and children would still be able to access them.

Using advergames to target the children demographic is a very effective marketing strategy because it not only exposes them to the product, but engages them by forcing interaction between the user and the product.   Also, children are currently very engaged in online media and games which makes it one the best mediums to effectively market products to them.  Unfortunately, not all of these products are beneficial to the health of children.

Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/advertising-food-to-children-moves-from-tv-to-online-games/article14916729/

In their new commercial, Tim Horton’s tells the story of how their coffee grounds are produced in a rather unique way.  The story is told using coffee grounds that have been shaped to form very detailed pictures of environments that show the origin of their blend.  These pictures are then modified slightly in every frame to create a video all made from coffee grounds.

Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IGg9Mlr_zY

The primary goal behind this campaign is to convey the quality of Tim Hortons’ brew to consumers and by presenting it in a very artistic way they are able to capture their target audience’s attention very effectively.  The ad will be run on television in Canada; however, Tim Hortons also wants to reach consumers through media.  They even created a “coffee filter” which edits a picture to look as if it were made out of coffee beans, and suggested that customers can show their love for Tim Hortons by turning their pictures into works of coffee art.

I think Tim Hortons’ ad campaign was very effective in showing the quality of their product because the story really convinces viewers that their coffee is created using the highest quality ingredients.  In my opinion it was wise of Tim Hortons to focus on quality because McDonald’s coffee market share is growing rapidly and Tim Hortons’ needs to show the quality of their products in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage.   I think the picture coffee filter may have taken the campaign a little too far, and I really don’t believe people would actually take the time to do this.  Overall, I think Tim Hortons’ convinced consumers that their coffee was superior to other competitors and accomplished their goal of showing the quality of their blend.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/gourmet-grounds-new-tim-hortons-campaign-tells-story-behind-the-coffee/article14717767/