Save Our Sandwiches
Last week during my early AM workout, rowing, I stopped to make note of an ad on the podcast I had been listening to. I sent myself an email – that's how I take my notes – writing, "Save Our Sandwiches Dot Com," into the subject line and hitting send. Then back to rowing.
Later that day, I checked out Save Our Sandwiches. Turns out, it's a real site - since April Fool's had been a couple of days prior, I was somewhat suspicious the site would turn out to be a corporate prank that had lingered past its sell-by date.
The site is from the folks at Best Foods (owned by Unilever), best known for its mayonnaise and dressings. It uses the creative device of the sandwiches we all love – think BLT's, egg salad, and others requiring a generous dollop of mayo – going "extinct," casting soil erosion as the culprit and providing a platform for the company to tout its $30 million investment to help soybean farmers switch to regenerative agriculture.
The ad and the site broke through the clutter, a win for the ad agency that likely made them. In today's media landscape that's no mean feat. It also brings much-needed attention to a problem, soil erosion, as well as to the promise of regenerative agriculture.
While the site wasn't an April Fools prank, it comes off as a parody site that trivializes the dimension of a serious issue and diminishes brand authenticity. Yes, soybeans are at risk and because of that so is the mayonnaise that depends upon their oil as an ingredient. But in a world where the "root" issue of climate change, a contributor to soil erosion, negatively dominates the psyches and heightens the sensitivities of so many, preserving our right to a club sandwich seems to be the least of our worries.
Beyond the tin ear, there are other problems with the execution.
There's plenty of weak sauce poured on the attempt at cheeky copy, especially the punny (and runny) plays on every word that begins with "ex." Eggs-traordinary. Eggs-ecuting. You get the idea.
Even worse, when you click on the "See How" button to learn more about how Best Foods is doing this important work, it leads to a page with a headline proclaiming, "We Care About Sustainability." Ugh. What a headline. The minute a big corporation tells me it cares about something is the minute I think, "Really, now?"
Don't tell us you care about sustainability, just show us. I'd like to know more about that $30 million – how it will be deployed, what positive outcomes are anticipated, how the impact will be measured, and how we'll keep abreast of it in the future.
Lastly, it's a poor choice to promote this initiative via paid advertising, which most of us look at askance the minute we see (or hear) something attached to it.
In our interview last year with the father of modern branding, David Aaker, he makes a strong case that every brand should have a signature impact story. I'm
inclined to agree, as customers and other stakeholders are keenly interested in
seeing companies solve social and environmental problems rather than causing
them. They will lend their eyes, their ears, and their dollars when the impact
is authentic, and the stories well told.
On a brand strategy level, Save Our Sandwiches is a signature misfire. A straight-forward approach would have served Best Foods better. It's a balancing act, for sure – plainspoken and potentially no one pays attention...or letting the creative wunderkinds loose and grabbing attention that's detrimental to the brand.
Perhaps simply framing the farmers as heroes of the initiative and letting
them tell your story, all the while figuring out a creative way to accomplish this. That's probably not going to win a bevy of creative awards, though the real opportunity isn't grabbing the statuettes, but rather coming up with a concept worthy of not only our attention, but deserving of the issue, the lives, and the stakes involved.
I don't know – perhaps I'm just a bit prickly this cold, gray spring morning in Boise where it's intermittently spitting snow. I'd be interested to know: What do you think about Best Foods and its approach?
Godspeed, friends.
Russ
💬 Quote of the Week
“May your rage be a force for good...What you build is infinitely more important than what you tear down.” Brittney Cooper
(Thanks to Godspeed reader Ashton Caldwell for sharing this quote with us.)
💥 Quick Hits
• You don't say? – While certain political forces are casting ESG as a boogeyman, new research from the American Sustainable Business Network proves that hewing to Environmental, Social, and Governance practices is good for business.
🤔 Trivia Time
What percentage of Gen Z and Millennials would like restaurants to be more transparent about the environmental impact of their menu offerings?
• 28%
• 56%
• 64%
• 77%
Today's trivia answer can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Trivia Answer
Call it a landslide – in a survey conducted by OnePoll and B Corp Avocado Green Mattress, 77% of younger generations wanted more transparency in the environmental impact of menu offerings at restaurants. This contrasts with 58% of older study participants for the same measure.