1. Hamburger Helper Serves up
a Mixtape
Library Case Study
4/21/2016
PR Casesand Management
AjaNero-Williams

2. Abstract: This document will discuss the creative possibilities of the public relations field
through examining a recent strategy executed by Hamburger Helper. This brand did something
that most wouldn’t have expected: release a rap mixtape entitled “Watch the Stove.” Along
with being a fresh take on their marketing strategy, the mixtape creation in itself was also a
public relations campaign. This will go further into detail about how this was executed, what
this move did for the company, and how it was received by the publics as the situation unfolds.
As of April 20, 2016, this would be considered an ongoing case, therefore the counsel to be
provided will be presented as suggestions for moving forward as opposed to evaluating a
concluded case.
Introduction
The power of public relations knows no bounds. It is a field significantly unique from
advertising, marketing, promotion and the like. Instead of trying to increase sales, public
relations is focused on building and strengthening relationships between organizations and
their stakeholders. With this in mind, it is clear that PR practitioners require a great amount of
creative and strategic skill in order to effectively spread messages and reach targeted publics.
The creative freedom the field provides is the reason why public relations can be seen as an
evergreen and refreshing career. As the world around us changes, so must we if we want to be
able to keep up. The possibilities are endless as time goes on, and good public relations
practitioners are experts at exploring those possibilities and breaking the mold.
On April 1, 2016, the meal convenience brand Hamburger Helper released a five-track
mixtape entitled “Watch the Stove.” Prior to the release, the brand voiced opinions on hip hop

3. culture, yet part of their audience felt that the company didn’t earn their spot as a hip hop
opinion leader. In the days that followed, the mixtape received an overwhelming positive
response. The case is unfolding currently, meaning this study will detail the elements of the
campaign that have been released as of 4/20/16.
Hamburger Helper Background
Hamburger Helper is a line of products under the General Mills packaged product line as
a Betty Crocker brand, based in Minneapolis and first introduced in 1971 (Wyman, 2004). The
products consist of dried pasta and seasonings under a variety of flavors; they are designed to
accompany meat, such as hamburger, chicken, and tuna. The available range is partially why
the company had its name shortened to “Helper” in 2013. There had been attempts to launch
similar lines like “Fruit Helper” (1973) and “Pork Helper” (2003), but both were discontinued
shortly after their introduction. The product’s mascot is the “helping hand” (a.k.a. “lefty”): a
white gloved, four-fingered left hand that has gone unchanged since Hamburger Helper’s
debut. The Food Network rated the product number three in its list of “Top Five Fad Foods of
the 70’s” in 2005.
There is one vintage piece of pop culture that is centered on this brand. In 1979, Scott
Spiegal wrote, produced and directed a short film called “Attack of the Helping Hand.” The
premise is that a Hamburger Helper oven mitt was actually a killer glove (Sam Raimi is Killed by
Hamburger Helper in this Early Short Film, 2013). This was an independent project that the
official Hamburger Helper brand was not affiliated with.

4. Attitudes of HH prior to mixtape release
Hamburger Helper is a household name. It is a product of convenience that has been
used in families for generations, which leads to the brand’s general connotation of a product
that “people have grown up with.” To those without awareness of its social media presence,
Hamburger Helper is a fun and neutral brand.
For those who follow the company on Twitter, they are able to see that Hamburger
Helper aims to be socially relevant by positioning itself as an entity that is musically conscious.
The organization attempts to enforce its fun and light-hearted image by connect with people
using today’s pop culture (Weissman, 2013).
Hip Hop as a Public Relations Tactic
Song creation is a powerful, yet sensitive tactic in marketing and public relations. A
good song can work wonders for a brand. The right tune can establish brand personality, add
emotional elements to products, create evergreen content for a company to use, boost
popularity with an untapped public, among numerous other benefits. Releasing a bad, cliché,
or tacky song however can be quite damaging. When observing hip hop culture many
companies see an opportunity to reach new publics. Yet hip hop has proven itself to be very
critical. Many times over, the power or destruction of a hip hop song has proven the
ramifications for both circumstances.

5. Brands typically trust their image to celebrity endorsements. It is common to see a
celebrity in a commercial with a product they could easily be associated with; for instance,
P.Diddy and his support of Ciroc Vodka or the highly successful 2004 Boost Mobile “*Chirp*
Where ya at?” campaign featuring Ludacris and Kanye West (Case Study: The Best and the
Worst Hip-Hop Inspired Marketing Campaigns, 2011). Yet celebrity endorsements are risky
moves to make for two reasons:
1. Using the Wrong Celebrity for the Image: It always sounds like a good idea to bring a
celebrity on board, but the company also needs to be aware of the cultural climate
before making important decisions. An example of this is the Three Olives Vodka
“Purple” campaign with Lil’ Kim. The marketing team at Three Olives felt that she was a
great celebrity to associate with the brand. Lil’ Kim was described as sassy and fun—
admirable traits that could be tied to the product. However the company didn’t
consider that at the time, Lil’ Kim hadn’t been on the rap scene in several years, and her
image didn’t create a lasting effect on Three Olives’ target audience.
2. Brand Defamation: Using a celebrity means that the brand trusts and expects that
person to represent the company well, on and off camera. When a celebrity’s personal
life goes awry, it can be reflected on the company’s image. A clear case of this is shown
in the quick relationship between Chris Brown and Wrigley’s gum. The campaign was
well done: the commercial was aesthetically pleasing and memorable, the music was an
established popular song that matched the feel of the commercial, and it was a great
association between a product and a relevant celebrity. In what seemed like no time
after the campaign debut, Brown was apprehended for domestic violence against Robyn

6. Fenty, a.k.a. Rihanna. Wrigley's couldn’t afford to have such a negative and sensitive
situation tied to them, which led to the quick disbandment of Brown and the budding
campaign.
For these reasons, some companies decide to produce original music in order to establish this
connection. The risk becomes greater when companies decide to do this. Hip Hop has been
discussed as an oversaturated market—there is so much music being produced at such a high
rate, that avid fans are constantly listening and evaluating the quality of the music. Hip hop
fans are trained to be extremely critical of the music that is released. If a company executed
this tactic incorrectly, it could be seen as insincere and a gimmicky way of attempting to
connect with a new, diverse audience.
In the midst of a heated presidential campaign, GOP candidate Ben Carson decided to
roll out a rap advertisement in attempts to reach the young black population and encourage
them to vote for him (Kopan, 2015). Prior to this, Carson was a very unpopular candidate with
this audience and he felt that this was a way to mend that damaged image. He partnered with
a rap artist named Aspiring Mogul to create a commercial. Aspiring Mogul rapped lyrics that
were a direct call to voters, which was overlaid with clips of Carson speaking. The reaction to
the advertisement was not favorable for Carson’s image. Having established a damaging
reputation with African Americans, the advertisement was regarded with distaste and
furthered negative opinions within the community. It is also important to note that Carson did
this in attempts to gain the black vote, when hip hop is much more diverse than that, and this
added to his inauthentic image.

7. Execution of Tactic
This idea came about as a light hearted response to a hip hop conscious public.
Hamburger Helper is known for using their Twitter account to voice opinions on hip hop
matters. For example, whenever Drake would release a new album, the company would
parody his album art soon after. Doing this and speaking on issues and trends in the music
industry has built up their reputation with hip hop fans. Followers began to challenge the
organization: “if Hamburger Helper was going to be so active in hip hop news, why don’t they
drop a mixtape of their own?”
Liana Miller, the brand’s Marketing Communications Planner, noticed the growing
amount of this specific requests from users online. Miller figured that it would be a fun idea to
try. “…we ended up just coming up with this idea, very lowkey over here, not a lot of people
knew it was happening.” she stated in one of the early interviews covering the subject
(Monllos, 2016). The planning of the project began under the radar with a few people in critical
positions. Liana Miller mostly worked with Ashley Wright, Marketing Partnerships Planner, and
local rapper Retro Spectro.
The mixtape had the ability to proceed as an inconspicuous project because Hamburger
Helper gives their creative team a great amount of freedom, so there was no need to consult
higher management about the mixtape. The brand has an internal creative agency called “The
Bell Shop”, and fortunately this agency has ardent hip hop fans who were excited to work on
the project.

8. With the assistance of the Bell Shop and Retro Spectro, the mixtape coordinators were
able to reach out to a number of local artists. Each member of the team picked out their
respective artists based on personal preferences and felt that each artist was a good fit for the
style of the album. The artists were given free reign, the only condition was that the song had
to be about Hamburger Helper, and to keep it clean. The mixtape management team admitted
that no song was altered after submission, with the exception of adjusting the tempo of one of
the pieces.
The mixtape, called “Watch the Stove,” was released on April Fool’s Day in 2016. The
primary channels used were SoundCloud and Youtube, with diligent cross-linking on all of HH’s
active social media accounts. The album art and title even parody Jay-Z and Kanye West’s
collaborative album “Watch the Throne.” HH never had the intention of letting the mixtape be
taken as a “joke”, but rather a light response to the speculation on Twitter. The company
purposely released it on this holiday to encourage people to receive the mixtape in a less
critical way. This didn’t make the creative team behind the project any less nervous. Watch
the Stove was essentially a shot in the dark; a marketing/PR move with no research backing it,
but rather just a response to a casual twitter interaction.
Implications of Strategy
Specific information regarding the planning of the case has yet to be released.
However, there are a few implications one could make from this move judging the execution.

9. The main objective of “Watch the Stove” is unknown and noted as a marketing move,
but it can be inferred that the mixtape is a part of a public relations attitude campaign.
Hamburger Helper leaked the mixtape as a response to the coo of Twitter followers and
skeptics, not as a call to increase sales. This audience held doubt towards HH as they would
keep track of the company’s tweets, and more than likely didn’t expect HH to follow through
with their request. Dropping “Watch the Stove” is not only a direct response to the Twitter
critics, but it is a show of how much the brand genuinely appreciates hip hop. Using this tactic
was also a way of reaching out to millennials and enthusiastic hip hop/pop culture fans.
Current Results and Evaluation
The mixtape went viral almost instantaneously after the release. In the week following
the release, it has garnered over 7 million plays on the company’s SoundCloud profile and 2
million views on YouTube. Countless people have created reaction videos, mixtape reviews,
even covers of the songs. The artists are being treated like celebrities and are gaining
momentum through press coverage and live appearances (Warner, 2016). “Feed the Streets”,
one of the more popular songs on the mixtape, has been reportedly used in the club scene. The
numbers almost stagnated in these past 18 days of the mixtape’s life. This is a common effect
of viral content, something that can similarly be described as a “fleeting high” (Sampson, 2012).
The novelty of the Watch the Stove has decreased, but it continues to receive media coverage.
It can be said that this was a tactic well done. The mixtape generated at large positive response

10. with many outlets and listeners agreeing that its “surprisingly good” (C.M., 2016), which placed
Hamburger Helper as an active member in the hip hop community.
Recommendations for Moving Forward
Liana Miller has stated that the company doesn’t plan on releasing multiple mixtapes,
but they will continue to “feed the streets.” This is an appropriate way to handle the campaign.
Viral content typically has a short shelf life, only to be referenced to and parodied from time to
time in the future (Montenegro, 2015). The company should continue to evaluate their twitter
presence and reactions to the mixtape, because it was done so inconspicuously. The mixtape
gained a lot of coverage, but there are many audiences who are still unaware of its existence. It
is possible that the mixtape statistics will spike due to the next influx of potential discoverers,
but only time will tell. Either way, this is an interesting case that should be observed for a few
more weeks.

11. References
C.M., E. (2016, April 8). Here's HowHamburgerHelper MadeOneof the Best Mixtapesof theYear.
RetrievedApril10,2016, from XXLMagazine:http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/04/heres-
how-hamburger-helper-best-projects-of-the-year/
CaseStudy:The Best and theWorst Hip-Hop Inspired Marketing Campaigns.(2011, February1).
RetrievedApril14,2016, fromMadame Noire:http://madamenoire.com/107425/case-study-
the-best-and-the-worst-hip-hop-inspired-marketing-campaigns/
Kopan,T. (2015, November5). Ben Carson Campaign RollsOutRap Ad.RetrievedApril 11,2016, from
CNN Politics:http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-rap-ad-freedom/
Monllos,K.(2016, April 4). Here's the Story Behind HamburgerHelper'sViral Mixtape.RetrievedApril 5,
2016, fromAdWeek:http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/heres-story-behind-
hamburger-helpers-viral-mixtape-170598
Montenegro,R.(2015). Click Bait and Virality Are Creating a New Science of InternetTrends.Retrieved
April 15, 2016, fromBig Think:http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/clickbait-and-virality-are-birthing-
a-new-science-of-internet-trends
SamRaimi is Killed by HamburgerHelperin this Early ShortFilm. (2013, September2).RetrievedApril 4,
2016, fromFEAR.net:http://www.chillertv.com/
Sampson,T. D. (2012, April 20). The Blurb of Virality.RetrievedApril20,2016, fromViral Contagion:
https://viralcontagion.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/the-blurb-for-virality/
Warner,R. (2016, April 8). WhatHamburgerHelper's Rap MixtapeTells UsAbouttheVast,Volitile
Universe.RetrievedApril 11,2016, fromCityPages:http://www.citypages.com/music/what-
hamburger-helpers-rap-mixtape-tells-us-about-the-vast-volatile-universe-8182922
Weissman,S.(2013, November23). HamburgerHelper is AwesomeatTwitter, Really. RetrievedApril10,
2016, fromdigiday:http://digiday.com/brands/hamburger-helper-twitter/
Wyman,C. (2004). Better Than Homemade. Philedelphia,PA:QuirkBooks.