ConAgra Foods has partnered with Feeding America for almost 20 years for the company’s largest cause-marketing program, “Child Hunger Ends Here.” In 2012, GPJ and our sister agency G7 were tasked to differentiate ConAgra Foods’ involvement from other participating CPG companies which largely focuses on redeeming codes on specially marked ConAgra products to provide a free meal to the 1 in 5 kids who go to bed hungry. We devised a plan to trigger action by creating an emotion evoking anthem for the campaign titled “Here’s Hope” that served as the consumer reward for the purchase and code redemption. “Here’s Hope” was penned by country star Hunter Hayes and other prolific songwriters and re-recorded by artists including Jewel, Jay Sean, and Owl City who performed the song in their own genres. This variety of interpretations from the most popular music genres empowered consumers to select their favorite version. Video vignettes of each artist in the studio and talking about their relationship to the cause, were featured online and throughout ConAgra and the artist’s social media.
For a “megaphone moment,” the song was performed live on CBS’s Academy of Country Music Awards by country super group, Little Big Town, with a children’s choir and a call to action followed as part of ConAgra’s sponsorship package for the show. The ACM Awards drew over 12.5 million viewers and helped to drive millions of earned media impressions and social conversations to kickstart the program. As a result of this fully integrated campaign which included advertising, consumer promotions, digital, public relations, social media, and shopper marketing, consumer linkage of ConAgra Foods to the issue of hunger increased and share of voice was higher than that of similar, competitive programs.
