Cultured Love Campaign Planbook

Cultured Love Campaign Plan Book
West Mitten PR AgencY

CULTURED LOVE CAMPAIGN 2

Table of Contents
Table of Contents..............................................2
Campaign Plan Book........................................3
Executive Summary..........................................6
Secondary Research........................................7
Primary Research...........................................13
Research Implications.....................................18
SWOT Analysis...............................................19
Goal of Campaign...........................................27
Target Audience..............................................29
Messaging.......................................................30
Positioning.......................................................31
Objectives & Strategies...................................32
Tactics.............................................................33
Budget.............................................................62
Timeline...........................................................64
Evaluation.......................................................66

CAMPAIGN PLAN BOOK
Cultured Love is a new and innovative specialty food company based in Grand
Rapids, MI. The brilliance of this company comes with each individual package of
different flavored sauerkraut that they ferment themselves for sale. What makes
Cultured Love’s product so unique, are the numerous health benefits, which are
provided by the microbes and probiotics within the kraut. By getting a sufficient amount
of probiotics, your body has a better chance at treating symptoms of Lyme disease,
brain fog, dizziness, and exhaustion. Probiotics are also just a good nutriment for a
person’s well-being. Ingredients for Cultured Love are from local organic farms along
with seasonally purchased ingredients from local markets. Cultured Love is still
relatively new to the specialty food industry only entering two years ago in 2014. In the
case of any new business, awareness and publicity is needed in order to gain the
public’s attention. Cultured Love has had no prior marketing strategies for their brand. A
majority of their awareness can be attributed to word-of-mouth from satisfied
consumers.
Although external threats such as awareness, and internal weaknesses such as
a limited marketing budget, numerous strengths and opportunities lay ahead for
Cultured Love. Internal Strengths include their unique product, the appropriate
geographic location, and strong company story, along with many others. With the right
promotion plan implemented, external opportunities for the company offer chances for
Cultured Love to increase their awareness and sales. Opportunities such as the growing

trend of healthy lifestyles in West Michigan, the steady incline of the national economy,
and the recent growth in the probiotic market.
The promotional campaign for this client will focus on targeting women, ages 25-
45 years old located in greater Grand Rapids, Michigan. This demographic is being
strategically targeted for their interest in healthy eating and lifestyle. The audience
practices the “food is medicine” mantra of Cultured Love and is willing to spend more
money on specialty foods rather than conventional. This audience was also selected
because of their accessibility on social media platforms. Cultured Love can simply
communicate their brand message to their target audience through social media,
primarily Facebook. Research supports the active content and messages about the
specialty food industry being spread quickly through social media. Being able to spread
their message on such a mass reaching platform like social media, is beneficial for a
company such as Cultured Love with a low marketing budget.
Moving forward, the campaign will begin by conducting two primary methods of
research. The starting point for any successful campaign is thorough research. It is
crucial to understand key demographic, and psychographic trends of the campaign’s
target audience. Additional research will be conducted on the company’s environment,
target audience, competition, and industry trends. The consequences of
incomprehensive research could potentially damage the credibility, and the validity of
the recommended solution for the client.

The evaluation of the campaign’s success will be scheduled to begin two weeks
following the end of the campaign. The evaluation process will measure the campaign’s
objective using various researching methods. Evaluations are also a helpful way for
companies to analyze and determine whether or not they should continue with the same
marketing strategy, or if adjustments need to be made.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research done consisted of secondary and primary research. The secondary
research was done with the intention of answering the question, what can be done to
increase brand awareness and category awareness? The primary research was in the
form of a focus group and survey. All the participants were in the target audience to
ensure minimal waste. Secondary research produced key findings that consumer
awareness of the category of specialty foods is rapidly growing, and even the use of
specialty foods for medicinal purposes is gaining traction. The key findings that came
out of the focus group were that sampling the food product and the company story
would incline consumers to purchase the product. The survey pointed to the key
findings of nearly 70 percent of participants buy organic foods over conventional foods.
Additionally, just over 50 percent of participants stated that Facebook recommendations
influence their purchasing decisions with the next closest media platform being
television commercials at 18 percent.

Research Report: Cultured Love
Functional foods, also called nutraceutical, are foods that contain health-giving
additives to the consumer. Fermenting foods puts the foods in this category. This food
category is becoming a trend for consumers. However, this trend struggles to gain
awareness. Research on the awareness of the functional foods trend is needed to better
understand the amount of consumer awareness and provide insights on how to increase
awareness among consumers. This research is also important to understand the
competition and what they are doing that works and what they do that doesn’t work in
regards to brand awareness. The research question that is attempted to be answered
by this research is what can be done to increase brand awareness and c
ategory awareness?
METHODOLOGY
In doing this research, the Boolean search method was used. To assist efficient
searching, keywords were used followed by phrases in quotations. The keywords were:
functional foods, specialty foods, fermented foods, organic, awareness and brand
awareness.
Different platforms were used to ensure a full exposure to research results.
Those platforms were: databases available at Grand Valley State University, Google
Scholar, Google and the Special Foods Association Website. More specifically, the
particular database used was General OneFile.
Secondary Research

RESULTS
The trend for healthy eating and healthy foods all started in the early 90s
(Klepacki, 1992). Nobody could have guessed how big the trend would become. The
trend gains traction as consumers begin to concern themselves about their personal
health. In fact, organic foods sales have increased from 11 billion dollars in 2004 to 27
billion dollars in 2012 (Consumer Demand, 2013). According to that same article,
organic food products are still rising in popularity and amount to 3.5 percent of total
United States food sales in 2012. Organic produce is still the highest selling category of
organic foods but others are gaining traction. The trend has indeed grown in awareness
but it should still grow to ensure a good market environment for those types of
businesses.
In addition to the awareness factor, the question of why the consumers are
making the switch to healthier foods needs to be answered. According to a study, 88
percent of participants stated that they would spend the extra money to buy a healthier
food choice (Gagliardi, 2015). According to that same study, the reason for this trend to
grow can range anywhere from societal to governmental, but the big reason for the
growth is the shift of focus in consumers that the role of diet plays into health. In addition
to this, the study states that consumers are taking more responsibility of their health and
receiving medicinal benefits from food. Taking into account the “food as medicine”
statement, a different article elaborates on this subject. Functional foods were examined
in their role for basic human health. Fermented foods are considered greatly because of

their deposits of probiotics (Thadison, 2014). By examining this evidence, it is clear that
consumers are aware of the benefits and are beginning to use it as medicine.
Now that awareness and why consumers are choosing this trend have been
examined, the focus now shifts to competition. More specifically, what is the competition
doing that works and what are they doing that is not working? During the process of
research, only one source of competition was found since the geographic reach is
confined to one state. That competition is The Brinery. According to an article on their
website, during the month of November in 2014 The Brinery had made an appearance
at the Weston A. Price Foundation 15th Annual, Wise Traditions Conference in
Indianapolis. Many speakers talked about the health benefits of fermented foods.
However, they were the only company with food that was “wild” fermented. That means
there are no added bacteria (Wise Traditions, 2014). In addition to this, they had
another article on their website explaining how they will be speaking with a farmer at the
Michigan Family Farms Conference on “Courting Buyer Relationship” in 2016. The main
theme of the conference this year is “Adventures in Agriculture: Embracing the Many
Cultures of Innovation Farming.” The keynote speech will cover critical public health
connections between diverse farmers and farming as vital partners in the health of our
region (2016 Family Farms, 2015). There was no hard evidence to say if these helped
their business. Additional research would need to be done to definitively say if it had
helped their business or brand.

DISCUSSION
To reiterate, the research question that is attempted to be answered is, what can
be done to increase brand awareness and category awareness? Based on the research
conducted, there is a growing category awareness that has been growing at a strong
rate since the early 90s. The reason why is because consumers realized that health is
directly related to diet. Also, the trend of using food as medicine is prevalent. No answer
could be found about how to increase brand awareness in the category. Therefore,
additional research will be needed to address that question.
The highlights or key findings of this research start with the willingness of the
consumer to spend more money to obtain the healthier option. This is important
because the healthier option tends to be more expensive than the other options
available to the consumer. Another important find was the growth of awareness in the
product category. This provides opportunity for new businesses to be successful in the
market. One final important finding was the awareness of consumers towards using
food as medicine trend. This is essential for certain companies who particularly ferment
their products for the probiotic benefits.

REFERENCES
2016 Family Farms Conference! (2015, December 17). The Brinery. Retrieved
January 25, 2016, from http://thebrinery.com/2016-michigan-family-farms-
conference/#sthash.Pvf362Wf.jfTZ6Ai6.dpbs
Consumer Demand Drives Frowth in the Organic Food Sector (2013, February
8). United States Department of Agriculture: Economic Research Service.
Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-
products/chart-gallery/detail.aspx?chartId=35003
Gagliardi, N. (2015, February 18). Consumers Want Healthy Foods--And Will Pay
More For Them. Forbes Business. Retrieved January 25, 2016, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nancygagliardi/2015/02/18/consumers-want-
healthy-foods-and-will-pay-more-for-them/#5d6c9adb144f
Klepacki, L. (1992, May 18). Health aspect expected to be '90s focus in specialty
foods. Supermarket News, 42(20), 21. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA12246935&v=2.1&u=lom_
gvalleysu&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&asid=0af7fc238aac1bbb37c1d821b94614
b3

Thadison, Marsha L. "Fermented Food: Putting the Power of Good Health Back
into the Hands of the People." Professional Agricultural Workers
Journal 2.1 (2014): 8-13. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.
http://tuspubs.tuskegee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=pa
wj
Wise Traditions Conference (2014, November 10). The Brinery. Retrieved
January 25, 2016, from http://thebrinery.com/wise-traditions-conference-
indianapolis/#sthash.HvdEuYd7.dpbshttp://thebrinery.com/wise-traditions-
conference-indianapolis/ - sthash.HvdEuYd7.dpbs

Qualitative:
The type of qualitative research chosen to be done in this research process was
a focus group. This is a valuable choice because the option to use the secondary
research in forming the questions is important to minimize waste. It also allows the
research to take a very detailed approach to the subject being researched.
METHODOLOGY
For the focus group the method used was convenience. This method was used to
ensure completion in a short time frame but still ensure quality insights into the
consumer opinions. The focus group consisted of 12 individuals that fit the target
audience specifications. A moderator’s guide was created to herd the discussion and
keep the discussion on topic. During the specific focus group conducted for this
research there was a moderator present and a scripter or note-taker present. This
allows the focus for both to be on one task rather than on multiple where errors might
occur.
RESULTS
Upon taking a closer look at the notes from the focus group a few meta-themes
began to emerge. One meta-theme was the place or distribution location of the product
was important because of the category that it is in. This meta-theme breaks down into
two themes: seasonal farmers markets and commuting for groceries. To examine the
Primary Research

seasonal farmers markets first, many of the participants stated that they do go to the
farmers market but only on a seasonal basis. Those seasons are summer and spring
when most produce is in season. Secondly, commuting for groceries was a concern of
many of the participants. This is very stressful and quite annoying so most participants
expressed that most of the time they take the easy option of grocery chain locations like
Meijer or Family Fare.
Another meta-theme that surfaced was the purchase of specialty foods for the
benefits of the product. Diving in a little further, a theme was the health benefits of
specialty foods. A couple of the participants say they buy specialty foods for allergy
reasons. Many of the participants stated that specialty foods are purchasable purely for
healthy diet factor. One other theme under the benefits is supporting local businesses.
Majority of participants expressed that they would purchase the product if it supports a
local business. This is a benefit because the consumer takes pride in local businesses
and the benefit of knowing exactly where it came from is evident.
DISCUSSION
The focus group was very insightful because the consumer input informs the rest
of the process of creating a survey and then a campaign. Upon full analysis, the
category of specialty foods has established awareness in the immediate surrounding
community but the brand awareness specifically for Cultured Love is not quite up to par
yet. This could be due to the newness of the brand and the lack of distribution locations.
However, from the results of the focus group the Cultured Love brand could prosper in
the greater Grand Rapids Area.

KEY FINDINGS
There are key findings in the focus group that are important to note. One key find
was that consumers use the specialty foods for health benefits. This is either just in
general or for specific conditions. Another key find is that the packaging that Cultured
Love uses stands out. Many participants commented on the packages bold presence.
A third key find was the importance of all of the participants placed on taste
testing. All of them said taste testing or sampling the product would completely
persuade them to buy the product because of the surprising taste. Many of the
participants were unaware that the taste of Cultured Love sauerkraut was nothing like
ordinary sauerkraut.
One final key find was that the story of how Cultured Love came to be a company
would persuade the participants to buy the product. The majority of the participants said
the story was very heartfelt and convincing that the product is legit. However, the
participants would not trust independent testimonials placed on the website. They would
rather research the customer stories on their own time.
Quantitative:
The type of quantitative study chosen to further this research was a survey
designed through Google Forms. The questions were based on the themes and meta
themes from the qualitative research that garnered further investigation on a larger
scale. Distributing the survey to the the target audience based on our original secondary
research allows for the collection of quantifiable data to be used in a campaign.

METHODOLOGY
Due to time constraints, the method used for distributing the survey was
convenience. Members of the research team electronically distributed the survey to
various social circles that met the requirements of the determined target audience.
Surveys were sent out through email as well as a posted link on forums to reach that
audience. All data was collected during a four day period from February 5 to the 8.
Google forms allowed for easy collection and analysis of the data. Google’s
automated system collected the answers from survey respondents and created easily
accessible tables and graphs displaying the data. Researchers analyzed the graphed
data to determine key findings that affected the Cultured Love campaign. The survey is
in appendix B and the graphs in appendix C.
RESULTS
Upon analysis of the results of the survey two important findings had risen:
propensity to purchase heightened due to interaction and first impressions are
important. The first important finding of propensity to purchase heightened due to
interaction was evident because nearly 70 percent of participants stated that they would
be more inclined to purchase a specialty food product if they were able to sample it first.
Also, nearly 65 percent of participants rated a three or higher on a scale of one to five of
how inclined they would be to purchase the product based purely on the company story.
The second important finding that came up when analyzing responses was that
first impressions are everything. Nearly 80 percent of participants rated the packaging a
three or higher on a scale from one to five asking for the appealing factor. This finding is

important because if the packaging is appealing and bold then the customer will be
drawn to it first when it is on a shelf with many other packages like it. In addition to the
packaging being appealing, the majority of participants remarked that Cultured Love’s
website was user-friendly and organized. Both of these are important to consumers
since the current consumer profile is impatient and strives for efficiency.
DISCUSSION
The survey results were important to the campaign because it gives the
campaign direction on where to focus the efforts. The survey, upon full analysis, informs
the campaign that taste testing is the most important thing for a new product. Also,
packaging that is bold is important because in a world of options, consumers look eye-
catching products first. It is important for Cultured Love to raise their brand awareness in
effective ways that the consumer trusts and will put effort into.
KEY FINDINGS
Among the number of key findings from the survey, the most prominent one was
how many of the participants buy organic foods over conventional foods. Nearly 70
percent buy organic over conventional. In reality this is most likely due to geographic
location. In that respect, Cultured Love is located in the right place.
The second key finding was the media platform that most influences purchasing
decisions of the participants. Just over 50 percent of participants stated that Facebook
recommendations influence their purchasing decisions with the next closest media
platform being television commercials at 18 percent.

The purpose of research prior to building a campaign is to understand the
consumer viewpoint and use these viewpoints to make sure the campaign is as
successful as possible. With this campaign, the main goal is to build brand awareness.
The key findings from both the secondary and primary research inform the
campaign pricelessly. The main use for specialty foods to consumer is to become
healthier just in general through diet or for specific health problems. This is good
because Cultured Love’s brand positioning is spot on. The Facebook recommendation
as the top influence of purchasing is insightful because it gives the campaign a vital
direction to go towards.
Distribution and sampling are very important to the campaign since the consumer
is more likely to purchase a product if they have easy access to it and ability to taste it
first. This is a critical step for Cultured Love in building brand awareness.
Research implications

One of the main weaknesses we discovered in our analysis was the lack of brand
or product awareness of Cultured Love products in West Michigan. Although we predict
improvement in this area to grow slowly, we do have several external opportunities that
we can use to aid this area of our campaign. Some of those opportunities include the
rising national trend in specialty foods and the local first movement in West
Michigan. Fermented sauerkraut fits into a really specific area of specialty foods that is
unique to this area, associating the product with the brand will increase because of that
lack of competition. Since the products are harvested and created in the West Michigan
area the company can tap into the buy local market that already exists. The Grand
Rapids area also provides Cultured Love with many events throughout the city that are
local first oriented and are attended by the company's target audience.
Another concern for the company is a lack of budget, and a desire to stay away
from the use of investors. To offset this weakness the company can rely on word of
mouth advertising highly influencing the consumers who would be naturally drawn to
specialty food. These consumers rely more on third party recommendations over
traditional media ads. Limited regional competition also cuts down on the need for
aggressive and expensive ad campaigns. Instead they can use earned and social
media outlets that will not cost anything.
Price of the product was another internal concern that arose while performing a
focus group for the Cultured Love products. Due to the process of fermenting the
sauerkraut to create the best product possible the cost of the final product comes to ten
SWOT ANALYSIS

dollars per bag. This cost is non negotiable, as the company wants to maintain its
holistic process in making the product. We found several opportunities to help
counteract the cost factor. The first is the recent decrease in gas prices and the overall
upward swing of the American economy. These factors lead Americans to have a larger
discretionary income. In addition to this rising healthcare costs will have consumers
turning away from costly treatments towards nutritional food that could cut down on
doctors visits.
A heartwarming and unique product backstory continues to be one of the greater
strengths of this company. The fact that the story can provide consumers can associate
strong emotions with a product's inception will benefit the company as it grows. We can
use several external opportunities to capitalize on this strength. With little market
competition the inception story gives Cultured Love an advantage. Since the story has
to with the health of a college student, the companies central location near so many
colleges will help connecting to an audience that can emphasize with the plight that
student faced. The backstory will also assist in word of mouth advertising, as was seen
in survey results. Consumers like the companies they purchase from to have a
wholesome inception story.
The medicinal benefits that come from the probiotics found in fermented
sauerkraut is huge plus that Cultured Love can take advantage of. As mentioned
previously in this report healthcare costs are rising and the process for obtaining health
insurance is becoming increasingly complicated in the recent political

climate. Consumers are looking for alternatives to costly doctors’ visits and probiotics
are proven to improve health. This also coincides with a national increase of consumers
purchasing probiotics.
One external threat found in research was a lack of home cooking and nutritional
education in the United States; studies show that this has been on a decline since the
mid-sixties. One way Cultured Love can offset this is by taking advantage of the local
trends in Grand Rapids and the increased amount of farmers markets in the surrounding
areas. The decline in gas prices will also play a factor in patrons visiting locations that
will have Cultured Love products, providing the company a platform to inform
consumers of how fermented sauerkraut can be used. This includes education on how
to cook with the product and the nutritional benefits of probiotics.
Since Cultured Love involves harvesting cabbage to make their final product
environmental factors can always be seen as a threat. This can include the effects of El
Niño and the polar vortex of previous winters. To offset these threats the company
needs to invest in emerging food technology that will make the distribution and storage
of their product more efficient and profitable. Food technology will be one of the eight
largest expanding markets in 2016 and a valuable resource.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN
Analyzing the environment around Cultured Love’s foundation, a number of
factors can be identified. Those factors are: economics, social demographics,
technological, law, political, and competition.

The first topic to analyze is the economics. The economy in the United States
has been steadily increasing since the recession in 2008. Looking at the specific
geographic area targeted, west Michigan, the economy is doing well and Grand Rapids
is quickly growing.
The specific target audience for Cultured Love’s campaign is women ages 25-45
that care about health and support local businesses. The social demographics of west
Michigan are: friendly to strangers, healthy lifestyle, supporting local businesses, and
having local pride. Residents of west Michigan are typically friendly to strangers no
matter if the stranger is visiting, or another resident. Living a healthy lifestyle isn’t just a
trend increasing in the west Michigan area, but all over the country. Consumers have
realized what a significant role diet plays in overall health. The local pride in west
Michigan stems from the immense support of local businesses in the area. This is why
Grand Rapids has been able to sustain many farmers markets and microbreweries.
Considering all the advancements in technology it is no surprise that a person
can purchase anything online. In light of this, it can be assumed that online purchasing
has increased steadily over the years. However, that is not the only thing consumers do
with technology. Consumers research on their own brands, stores, restaurants, etc.
before making a purchase of something they don’t normally buy. Technology is also
playing a large role in the proficiency of the food industry. Technological advances in
this industry have made the distribution of food products more efficient and profitable for
businesses.

By analyzing legal and political factors in the west Michigan area, it was found
that there are few laws that pertains to the organic foods category. However, political
factors can have an influence in supporting small business by allowing the business
application to be within the area. The local government must approve a business’s
proposal for the business to be allowed into the city. Therefore, local politics has some
control on what the environment of west Michigan contains.
The competition for Cultured Love in west Michigan is not of any direct kind, but
the closest direct competition is a brand in Ann Arbor called The Brinery. The Brinery
produces the same product as Cultured Love-fermented food products- with a difference
in packaging. The indirect competition to Cultured Love in west Michigan is the local
farmers who sell produce at farmers markets. These are indirect competitors because
they don’t sell the same product as Cultured Love but the organic produce they sell
could take some of the business away from Cultured Love.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Cultured Love is a new business in the specialty food industry. The main product
that they sell are pouches of sauerkraut that come in three separate flavors, traditional,
dill, and hot & spicy. What makes this product so unique is that it has many health
benefits that can help those affected by Lyme disease, brain fog, and also helps general
well-being. They source their ingredients from organic farms and when the season is
right their ingredients are purchased locally. Cultured Love produces their kraut by hand
at the Downtown Market incubator kitchen in Grand Rapids and the process takes

between ten and fourteen days for optimal fermentation and proper flavor. Their
products are sold at a number of local farmers markets and health foods stored in West
Michigan. With any new business, Cultured Love has a lot of situations as well as
opportunities that need to be addressed so their product can be successful in the future.
Some problems that they face are:
• Lack of awareness
• Resistance to eating unfamiliar foods
• Lack of business experience
• No online retail platform
• Lack of equipment to mass-produce
The lack of awareness is something that any new business runs into when
starting out. They have been well received so far by local farmers markets and their
products are becoming more widely available in West Michigan so this is one way they
are counteracting this situation.
The next problem that they face is resistance to eating unfamiliar foods.
Sauerkraut has a negative connotation by many and people are afraid to try it. Cultured
Love has masked their product in a couple of different flavors so future customers will
be more receptive to trying something new.
Lack of business experience is another issue that they face but they are taking
the right steps by going through Grand Valley State University for consulting. One major

issue that Cultured Love is experiencing is not having the right equipment to mass
produce. As they begin to expand, there will be a much higher demand for their
products but currently do not possess the ability to fill possible orders. Along with some
of the issues that face Cultured Love, they also have a number of opportunities.
This includes:
• Unique product
• Creative name and packaging
• Emotional connection/Backstory
• Rising Industry (Specialty Foods)
• Few competitors
• Local connection
• Medical/Preventative benefits
• Possible online community and merchandise
Flavored sauerkraut is a unique product that while carries around a negative
stigma, is interesting enough for possible future consumers. They specifically crafted
two flavors that are familiar in taste to widen their market potential while also being
unique.
One of Cultured Love’s greatest opportunities is their backstory and how they
came to be which has the potential to create a strong emotional connection. That mixed
with being a small business in West Michigan where buying local is encouraged is a
tremendous opportunity that cannot go ignored.

The last opportunity listed is the possibility of creating an online community.
Today, everyone is connected through technology and some of the greatest products
out there have a large online following. Cultured Love has an opportunity to create their
own community in West Michigan and start a large online following. A need that cultured
love should address is begin finding customer testimonials and posting them on their
website. This will not only help them gain credibility, but will also help form an emotional
connection for possible consumers.
Another need is to get a better handle on their online presence. Social media
creates a great opportunity and is something that needs a lot of attention to be
successful. One of Cultured Love’s goals is to create an online community and this can
be done through social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
The last need for Cultured Love is to keep building awareness. They need to
keep showing up at farmers markets to promote their brand as well as keep expanding
their products to different stores in West Michigan.

West Mitten PR agency was hired by the company Cultured Love to raise
awareness and positively position their brand amongst women ages 25-45 years old in
the greater Grand Rapids area.
-45 years old in the gr
GOAL OF CAMPAIGN

The targeted audience in this communication plan will be focused primarily on
mothers between the ages of 30-45 living in West Michigan. These mothers are part of
middle class families and are interested in new ways to use healthy foods in place of
prescription drugs for their family’s health. This is a good audience to target for Cultured
Love because their story is very relatable to mothers and has the potential to create an
emotional appeal. These mothers are looking out for what’s best for their families and
make purchasing decisions based on their family’s well being.
The secondary target audience for Cultured Love is college students with limited
time and resources to make and eat healthy foods. Cultured Love’s products are a quick
and convenient for students to take in much needed nutrients to promote a healthy
lifestyle. The flavors of the sauerkraut are also appealing to this market because the
flavors are familiar for those who are nervous to try something new.
TARGET AUDIENCE

AUDIENCE DEFINITION AND ANALYSIS
The audience for this campaign will include women ages 25-45 years old with a
low-middle annual income, primarily in Grand Rapids, MI (Kent County). Although Kent
County will be the main focus for the beginning of this campaign, other counties residing
within West Michigan are in the scopes for Cultured Love including, Ottawa, Muskegon,
Allegan, and Ionia. Research done for the campaign inferred that this customer base is
conscious about their eating habits, and practice the “food as medicine” mantra.
Although this audience earns a low-middle income, research shows that customers are
willing to spend more money on healthy food products than conventional. Consumers in
our target audience also indicate that messages about new specialty food products
spread quickly through social media-especially Facebook-and have heavy influence on
consumer’s purchasing habits. This trend is beneficial to Cultured Love’s marketing
strategy due to their budget’s inability to purchase more expensive traditional
promotional methods. This age group has shifting purchasing habits and needs, that
impact the future of the special foods industry. The special foods industry has specific
opportunities when it pertains to this market and audience when implementing new
marketing strategies. These opportunities are mainly considered when crafting a
campaign plan with strategies and tactics in order to fulfill measurable objectives.

:
Primary Message:
Cultured Love simply aims to save lives and money by providing education and
insight on how healthy, organic foods have a significant impact on living healthier,
fulfilled lives
Secondary Messages:
● Cultured Love aims to create a community of healthy living
● Every culture is capable of Love
● Don’t make living complex
● Healthy living is a choice
● Food fuels the body
● Eating good food puts you in a good mood
● Living a healthy lifestyle can be a simple concept
Message Strategy:
The strategy for communicating the brand message is to surround consumers
with the brand message through interactive activities and creating viral content for
consumers to share via word of mouth on social media platforms.
MESSAGING

A must have for adult women that strive to prevent illness, Cultured Love offers
flavorful fermented sauerkraut that is the affordable way to keep you healthy. This is due
to the probiotics that are produced during fermentation which cleans your intestines and
stomach to ensure healthier digestion.
POSITIONING

Objectives for this campaign are based around the research that was conducted,
as well inferences made from the environmental scan S.W.O.T analysis. Increasing
awareness, likes, website traffic, and annual revenue sales are the main objectives for
the campaign. Supported by strategies and tactics, each objective will be measured
using different methods, and at different timeframes throughout the year of 2016.
Objective: Increase Cultured Love awareness amongst TA in (Grand Rapids) by
45% by October 2016.
Strategy 1: Clearly position the brand amongst the target audience.
Strategy 2: Create interactive content for consumers on social media.
Strategy 3: Connect to Opinion Leaders in Specialty Food industry.
Strategy 4: Increase/Improve media platforms promoting the product and brand.
OBJECTIVES & StratEGIES

Tactic 1: Free Hug Day
Through sponsored events, Cultured Love can better connect with the local West
Michigan community and start to be part of the local conversation. Just plastering your
name on the side of a truck or putting up a sign will not be enough. Cultured Love
needs to host an event that connects with their values and “Love Simply” big idea. We
suggest that you host a free hugs event in Rosa Parks Circle on June 18th
. Ideally,
there will be about 15 to 20 hugging volunteers. These volunteers will offer free hugs to
the public as a way to show how simple a kind gesture can be. The volunteers will be
provided t-shirts and water. They will also be handing out samples of your sauerkraut to
passer buyers to taste. There will be a sample table and two vertical banners drawing
attention to your event. It would be beneficial to capture this event on via cell phone
camera, either picture or video, to post on YouTube at a later date. Leading up to the
event a news release will be sent out to members of the media that we have provided in
the contact list.
Included:
· Media Contact List
· News Release
· Banners
· T-shirts
· Water for participants
TACTICS

Tactic 2: Love Simply Packaging
With love simple packaging you will be able to provide your consumers with small ideas
that they can do each day to spread Cultured Love’s message. This will build your
brand as shoppers associate Cultured Love past your initial product line. Our research
shows that your target audience likes to feel connected to their products and the
company that they are buying from. They also relate to the heartwarming story behind
how your product originally came to be. This will help connect their own everyday love
simply stories with yours building a stronger relationship.
The package change will consist of simple pictures of ways in which consumers can
show others that they care daily, followed by the love simply hashtag. The hashtag will
be part of your twitter campaign, which your target audience actively participates in.
The pictures on the back would consist of ideas for homemade cards, mothers/fathers
days gifts, healthy eating tips, etc.
Includes:
· Designs for packaging

Tactic 3: Chalk “Love Simply” Campaign
Our target audience lives throughout West Michigan, primarily in the Grand Rapids
area. A large portion of that audience already shops and goes out in the East Town,
East Grand Rapids, and downtown areas. We suggest that Cultured Love utilize these
naturally busy surroundings to launch a chalk campaign that would lead that public to
the downtown Farmers Market. You would have your employees tag multiple locations
throughout the area in chalk with messages that say “Love Simply” or “Cultured Love
this way.” The idea behind this campaign is to attract new customers to the downtown
market where you already sample your product. Insight gathered from the focus group
proved that once people tried Cultured Love sauerkraut their perception of what
sauerkraut was changed. The product had an overwhelmingly positive response, even
from skeptics. With that knowledge, we wanted to find a way to get people to the
downtown market where you have samples. It will let the product sell itself, while
promoting brand awareness.

Strategy 2

Tactic 1: Match Game
The match game was created for distribution on your social media outlets, primarily
Facebook. The rules of the game are to match the packaging to the creative description
of the product; it is both timed and scored. The game is meant to be fun, helping
diehard kraut fans flaunt their skills and newer customers discover all your products.
There is also a share option in your score and challenge others. Providing this
interactive material for your audience on social media will better help them engage more
with Cultured Love.
Includes
· Premade match game
· http://en.educaplay.com/en/learningresources/2315504/cultured_love.htm

Tactic 2: Facebook contest for clothes
Another way to engage with your social media audience is to have various contests for
products throughout the year. It encourages them to digitally share your products with
their friends and family, expanding your recognition throughout social media. These
contests would run on Facebook once every two months.
To enter the contest, participants would share photos of them enjoying cultured love
products to in their own feed or to a friend’s wall. They can also share a picture that
Cultured Love shared on their homepage. Then they would tag Cultured Love in the
photo and the company would be able to enter their name into the drawing. At the end
of a two month time period, two random winners would be chosen. Those winners
would have their choice of either your tote bag or t-shirt. We also recommend
expanding your product line past the tote bags and t-shirts on a trial basis during this
contest. We believe that because Cultured Love has such a strong connection to
cooking, that oven mitts and aprons would be a great next step. You can also gage
consumer interest in those products based on their responses during the contests.
Includes:
· Two Facebook Advertisements
· Designs for oven mitts and apron

Tactic 3: Consistent interaction with followers
Sometimes building interaction on social media can be prompted by providing them with
a two way conversation in which they can participate. This tactic is relatively easy to
enact and involves maintaining conversations or responses with your social media
followers. You started the conversation though the giveaways and match games; now
continue with that conversation. Respond to comments or pictures posted on your walls
and follow up with what your audience has to say. If you host an event, tag some of
your friends.
Through research, we know that the emotional story behind your product draws
customers in, build upon that story and continue to develop a sincere relationship. We
know that much of our target audience is willing to change brands based on their needs,
providing them with a friendship and emotional connection will discourage them from
purchasing from competitors. It will take effort extended effort, but the payoff will be a
loyal consumer base and an increase in followers.
Includes
· Example of posts

Tactic 4: YouTube Video and Recipe Card
In our research, we found that your target audience is interested in learning new recipes
from you and watching cooking tutorials. We believe providing them with a visual while
they are cooking will be a good way to continue to build the relationship between you
and your consumers. For each flavor of sauerkraut you can make a corresponding
video of you cooking a recipe you would recommend. The videos would be a short
introduction to of the company, followed by the cooking lesson, and then ending with
you enjoying the final product with family and friends. These YouTube videos would be
posted on your social media outlets as well as a QR code linking to the videos on recipe
cards. These cards can be easily handed out when a customer purchases a bag of
sauerkraut. Due to a limited budget, these videos will have more of a home feel to
them. However, this will appeal to your target audience and provide more of an
authentic feeling.
Included:
· Storyboard
· Recipe Card

Strategy 3
Tactic 1: Tip Sheet and Backgrounder
Opinion leaders are individuals within a community that others will turn to for advice,
values, and opinions. In the case of our target audience these opinion leaders would
include health professionals or health bloggers. To reach those groups we have
created both a tip sheet that can be distributed to the media as well as a backgrounder.
These materials will both provide some background on the company as well as the
benefits of probiotics. Providing this material to opinion leaders will bring up awareness
of Cultured Love sauerkraut and its benefits. Once Cultured Love has the approval of
the opinion leaders, they will be able to reference them with confidence to help build
validity with the target audience.
Included:
· Tip Sheet
· Backgrounder

Tactic 2: Infographic
This infographic is also meant to inform publics about Cultured Love and the benefits of
probiotics. Unlike the tip sheet and backgrounder, it is aimed at a more general public
and opinion leaders who are not active in the medical community. These opinion
leaders for example, would be mommy bloggers who are more interested in immediate
benefits and a quick sentence level definition of probiotics. For this reason the
infographic is not text heavy and uses eye catching symbols and pictures. The
infographic was designed mainly to be used in an online format. However, you can print
a PDF version out to hand at various Cultured Love sponsored events or at the farmers
markets.
Includes:
· Infographic
· Contact List

Tactic 3: Guest Bloggers
One way to connect with opinion leaders in the community is to invite guest bloggers to
participate on Cultured Love’s blog. These Guest Bloggers would be other members of
the farmers market, health professionals, mommy bloggers, and customers. By
including their voice in your blog you will expand your own blog's audience. The guest
blog will also build a stronger relationship between Cultured Love and local opinion
leaders. The topic of guest blogs will be chosen by the writers; the invitation will
suggest various topics that relate back to your initial brand message.
Included:
· An email invitation to submit on your blog

Strategy 4
Tactic 1: Create Hashtags on Twitter
Using twitter you can start various hashtag campaigns that engage your followers.
These hashtags will help to tag your company values and spread brand awareness. It
will encourage followers to bla bla bla
Our suggestions:
· #lovesimply
· #CulturedLove
· #Lovelocalculture

Tactic 2: Tag a pic
In order to build a larger social media following, you will entice current followers to post
pictures of them engaging in the cultures love lifestyle with the premise of reposting
some of those photos on your own social media outlets. Participants who tag you will
get a repost on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. They can tag themselves in pictures or
posts anytime they believe they are living the cultured love lifestyle, and if you feel that
the post matches your brand you would do a repost. These shout outs will raise social
media awareness and build a stronger connection between you and your current
followers.

Tactic 3: Increase photo posts
Produce high quality resolution, mouth-watering photos of the product that inspires
consumers to try it. These images can be of the fermentation process or meals
prepared using sauerkraut. Turn around and post those photos (once a week) to all
three of the social media outlets that we highlighted in your social media
recommendations. Increasing images of “cooking with sauerkraut,” or “the production
line” will result in an increase in followers. Research shows that high quality resolution
photos will increase the number of likes and shares of that photo. These mouthwatering
pictures will also inspire new consumers to try it.

Tactic 4: Utilize Blog and Calendar
A blog is one of the most effective ways to open up a dialogue and provide transparency
to your consumers. Through this blog you can keep your followers updated on new
products, become an opinion leader in your industry, and provide another outlet for dual
communication. Keeping up with a blog can be easy with organization and a standard
format. Blogs are generally 500 to 700 words long and on average take about 15
minutes to write. Planning blogs out ahead of time will help with blog management.
Blog Format:
· Header Photo:
· Headings font:
· Heading color:
· Heading size:
· Body text font:
· Body text size:
· Body text photo:
· In blog photo:
Included:
· Blog calendar
· Example of Blog

Tactic 5: Facebook Ads
Continued use of Facebook ads would help build awareness of cultured love online.
These ads our re-envisioned with the big idea “Love Simply.” In the first ad there is a
comparison to the classic Mary Poppins song “Spoonful of sugar makes the medicine
go down,” and a spoonful of sauerkraut. This draws upon the idea of being able to
make simple healthy life choices.

Tactic 6: Magazine Ads

Tactic 7: Brand Yourself
The website BrandYourself.com can be used to improve and manage your online
reputation. This free site uses your company name, Cultured Love, and searches the
internet for results that come up when someone uses a search engine to look for you. It
provides the user the top search results for Cultured Love; you can then flag the sites
that do not relate to your specific business. This increases your chances of being found
when someone searches for Cultured Love. The website also provides alternative ways
to improve your search engine optimization. The website also provides
recommendations for LinkedIn profiles and an option to link your social media websites
to your company name. Brand yourself is an effective and easy to use website to
manage your online reputation.

Tactic 9: Tweet Deck
Utilizing social media will be very important in raising brand awareness among
your target audience. They look to social media when finding new products and
gathering recommendations from friends. Having an active twitter account will increase
your interaction with current consumers and potential buyers. It allows you to update
your target audience on the latest Cultured Love news, share pictures easily, redirect
followers to other forms of media, and allows for back and forth communication between
you and your customers. We recommend being posting on twitter at least once daily to
begin with. This can be easily managed by using a free site like Tweetdeck. Through
Tweetdeck you can schedule when you want to release a tweet, keep up on
notifications, and manage previous tweets. It is an easy way to keep track of your social
media communication and effectively keep up on posting.

The client has a ballpark budget of around $1,000. West Mitten PR will work with
the client to stay below the budget and use as little resources as possible. Anything in
the plan that requires money will be pre-approved by the client before implementation in
the final plan.
These expectations between West Mitten PR and the client are to be met for the
best possible working experience. If there are any emergencies from either party then
the agreement can be renegotiated.
Budget

Attached is a timeline that Cultured Love will be able to implement the tactics and
evaluate the objectives throughout. Starting with the beginning of this timeline, research
has been conducted through the months of January-March. The tip sheet, infographic
and backgrounder will be implemented throughout the Spring and Summer months
during peak farmer’s market season. This will educate the target audience of women
ages 25-45 in the Grand Rapids area of the benefits of probiotics and get them thinking
about purchasing during these months. Magazine ads will feature strictly in the summer,
May-August in magazines such as West Michigan Women, and so forth. Facebook ads
will be pushed year round seeing as though they are inexpensive and run congruent
with this budget and target audience’s preference in social media. Blogs and Consistent
social media content will be ran year long as well. Love Simply Packaging will be
unveiled during the summer months where peak interest is there. Free Hug campaign
will be strictly in June when the event will be held in Grand Rapids. Chalk graffiti will be
spirratic throughout the summer in order to intrigue the audience in what these
messages are. YouTube tutorials will be filmed and shared afterwards throughout the
year when Cultured Love is able to. Evaluations will be done in November, after these
tactics have been implemented to get a full feel if the campaign was successful or not.
Timeline

In order to judge how successful the campaign, Cultured Love will need to
evaluate their objective and see if they were met or not. By doing this, Cultured Love will
be able to tell if their strategies and tactics did the job to complete the objective and if
not, what needs to be changed. From there, Cultured Love can make any changes
necessary so the campaign can be more successful in the future.
The objective that needs to be evaluated is, increase Cultured Love awareness
amongst women between the ages of 25 and 45 in Grand Rapids by 45% before
October 2016. To do this, Cultured Love will give surveys out to people attending local
farmers markets around West Michigan that ask if people are familiar with Cultured
Love and what they represent. These surveys will contain demographic questions so
there is a good snapshot of who is taking these surveys. Other questions that will be on
these surveys will ask if they are familiar with the name Cultured Love and if they know
what they do.
Once the surveys are completed and the data is collected, the next step is to
compare those answers with the surveys that were given out in the research portion of
the campaign. This is a good method of evaluation because it gives a clear before and
after comparison on brand recognition and will also be easy on the budget as well as
easy to implement.
Once these surveys are completed, Cultured Love will have a concrete idea on
how well the campaign performed and if their expectations were met. As mentioned
EVALUATION

earlier, Cultured Love will be able to make the changes needed so the campaign will be
more successful if they wish to continue with the plan into the future.

Cultured Love Campaign Planbook

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