NEW YORK — The frill is gone.
Companies are moving their ad dollars from gourmet or frivolous items to pantry staples and traditionally ho-hum household goods. Hamburger Helper, Kool-Aid drink mix and that golden oldie butter are advertising stars these days.
The new advertising is aimed not only at cashing in on the new frugality of recession-wary consumers but also fending off a flight to cheaper store brands. It also can maintain companies’ share of a shrinking consumer-spending pie.
“In this ‘Great Recession’ economy, companies are not simply changing the messages they place in their ads, they are doing something much more substantial,” said Marc Fleishhacker of OgilvyConsulting’s North America practice. “They are fundamentally changing the products they promote.”
Land O’Lakes Inc., the maker of deli cheese, eggs and butter, launched its first TV campaign for its basic butter product in 10 years. Hormel Foods Corp., which increased its spending on ads for Spam last year, began its first national ad campaign for Dinty Moore stew last fall. Sales for Spam and Dinty Moore stew rose by double-digit percentage increases in the quarter that ended Jan. 25.
Shoppers who have noticed the new ads applaud marketers for understanding their changed psyche.
“I like the messages out there. It’s less focused on consumerism and buying the best,” said Andrea Beck, a 39-year-old stay-at-home mother of two from South Orange, N.J., who has slashed her spending on food and lawn care.
The shift to highlight more everyday products follows more than a decade of companies pushing $30,000 kitchen renovations, $15 per pound cheeses and flashy jewelry as rising home values and growing stock portfolios made consumers feel flush.
No more. The recession has brought on an abrupt change in shoppers’ mindsets.
In the last big recession, in the early 1980s, consumer product companies simply shrunk their ad budgets, said John Greening, a 28-year advertising industry veteran and now an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
But they can’t afford to do that this time, as shoppers are shifting to lower-priced store brands, spending more at discounters, scraping the last dollop of face cream and buying more cheap canned goods and pasta.
“People are willing to settle for value-oriented products,” Greening said. “It doesn’t have to be the best; it just has to be the best for the value of the money.”
Sales of Hamburger Helper have risen 9 percent so far this fiscal year, said Beth Brady, vice president of marketing at General Mills Inc.
One TV vignette for the product shows workers wondering what they’re going to serve their families for dinner. The brand’s helping hand pops up with a solution: a dry pasta and sauce mix packets that sells for $2 a box.
“People are looking for ways to uncomplicate their lives,” Brady said.
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