It's back to school week and my Facebook feed has filled up with photos of my friends' kids in their new uniforms, lunchboxes packed, posing for the traditional first day back at school photo.
It got me thinking about what kids have in their lunchboxes in comparison to what I remember taking, so I did a bit of research on what Warc had on the subject of snacking – and here are some of the things I learnt from the Warc.com database:
- The UK fruit snack, Bear, was founded in 2009 with the funds raised from the sale of its founders' house. 3 years later they had sales of over £6.4m and were tackling the challenge that, in the UK, only 12% of people get their recommended 5 portions of fruit or veg a day.
The brand uses the Bear character to engage with children, focusing on sharing messages around healthy eating, forest protection and enjoying the outdoors – and in response, Bear receives over 100 letters a week from children.
- Chiquita is the leading distributor of bananas in the US and partnered with Universal Pictures and its Minions film to connect with mothers of young children, with a new mobile-first approach.
The "Minions Love Bananas" website saw a return rate above 50%, with 20% of unique visitors signing up to receive rewards. Of that audience, 35% opted-in to receive ongoing marketing from Chiquita in the form of a newly-revamped email and SMS CRM program.
Also – I never knew that the labels on Chiquita bananas are all applied by hand to avoid bruising the fruit!
- As whole population – adults as well as kids - Japan snacks the most with average of 9.2 snacks purchased per week. India, on the other hand, has snacking least embedded within its culture at only 1.6.
- Snack companies such as Mondelez may currently think of their biggest rivals as Mars or PepsiCo but the reality is that as the blurring of categories continues and the very definition of “snacks” changes, Yili, Dean Foods and Lactalis may be the real competitors of the future.