The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods: December 22, 2023 edition

Welcome to The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods, a weekly round-up for marketers from Quad Insights that covers the latest must-know news surrounding the CPG space.

Welch’s promotes rebrand in new “Let’s Fruit Stuff Up” campaign

To counter consumers’ perceptions of Welch’s as a grape-only product, the farmer-owned cooperative underwent a rebrand and just launched a campaign called “Let’s Fruit Stuff Up,” Ad Age’s Jon Springer reports. Welch’s new look — which includes a refreshed logo, packaging and social media presence — is “intended to bring a new energy to the Welch’s brand by harnessing the colors and flavors of fruits, versus a previous focus on pastoral farm scenes,” per Springer.

The move aligns with Welch’s aim to meet shifting consumer demands for lighter, lower-sugar items. As Scott Utke, Chief Marketing Officer of Welch’s parent company Welch Foods, told Springer, this includes leaning into trends in existing product categories as well as introducing new flavors and products. Products currently in development include Welch’s Grapeade — “a lemonade challenger playing into the light, refreshing and no-sugar trends,” Springer writes — and a variety of fruit-flavored canned cocktails, set to be released in spring 2024, in partnership with Coop Ale Works.

Meati Foods gains Olympic athlete investors

Alternative meat manufacturer Meati Foods has brought on two new investors — Olympic gold medalist and world champion gymnast Aly Raisman, and NBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist and Golden State Warriors point guard Chris Paul — per Brooke Just of Food Business News. Known for its fungi-based meat alternatives, formulated using its proprietary MushroomRoot formula, Meati has become a disrupter in the alternative protein category after hitting the market earlier this year, according to VegNews. With their investment, Paul and Raisman join a list of Meati investors that includes MLB Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter, TV personality Rachael Ray, chef Tom Colicchio and Sweetgreen co-founders Jonathan Neman and Nicolas Jammet.

“World-class athletes like Chris and Aly choosing to invest in our company reinforces that we are introducing a powerful, new whole-food staple worthy of fueling everyone, including those most discriminating about what they eat,” Meati Foods President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Tassani told Just.

Related news:

• “Beyond Meat launches new burger at Costco” (Food Dive)

Dove announces plans to air first Super Bowl commercial in 18 years, with focus on body confidence

Dove announced on Monday its plans to return to the Super Bowl in February with a 30-second spot focused on promoting body confidence to help keep girls in sports. The commercial is the Unilever beauty brand’s first appearance in the game since 2006, when it aired a commercial emphasizing the importance of boosting self-esteem among young girls. That commercial, as well as the new one, are part of the continuing Dove Self-Esteem Project, “which has reached more than 100 million young people with no-cost tools and resources since its inception in 2004,” per a company statement.

The announcement of the new spot follows the launch of a partnership with Nike this fall on a new initiative, called Body Confident Sport, designed to help build body confidence in girls ages 11 through 17 using what Dove calls a “first-of-its-kind, scientifically proven set of coaching tools.” The initiative was developed in response to a report, co-commissioned by Dove and Nike, indicating that 45% of teenage girls drop out of sports because of low body confidence.

Further reading

• “Greek-yogurt maker Chobani buys coffee company La Colombe for $900 mln” (Reuters)

• “Beam Suntory to sell Courvoisier to Campari for $1.2bn” (The Spirits Business)

• “Hormel Foods Named to America’s Best-Run Companies List” (Progressive Grocer)

• “Unilever sells slow-growing brands like Q-tips to private equity group” (Financial Times)

• “Drumstick buys its first Super Bowl ad” (Ad Age)

• “Sam’s Club and PepsiCo Team Up to Boost Brand Engagement Via Retail Media Video” (Retail Info Systems)

• “How the pairing of Pringles and caviar went viral on TikTok, Instagram” (Marketing Dive)

• “Guinness unveils ‘Foot Pint’ boots that leave stout-prints in the snow” (Campaign)

• “COP28 – PepsiCo co-launches sustainability accelerator in Middle East” (Just Food)

• “Zacapa rum highlights female empowerment in 1st global campaign” (Marketing Dive)

• “Co-branded giveaways —how Olipop, Olly and Not Your Mother’s Haircare are attracting new customers” (Ad Age)

• “Cetaphil’s first global activation calls for the ‘Ultimate Stress Test’” (Drug Store News)

Thanks for reading.

If you’d like to catch up on prior installments of this column, start by heading to our last recap: “The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods: December 15, 2023 edition”