Marketing in the News

Cracker Jack has recently taken a new marketing approach by releasing their limited edition Cracker Jill packaging for opening day all across the country. This news immediately caught my eye because of the inclusivity and rebranding of an old ballpark classic. The reason I chose this piece of news is because it is so important to celebrate the achievements of female athletes because of the stigma around women's sports being inferior to men's sports. 

Marketing Dive released an article covering the details of the new Cracker Jill product. In the article it is mentioned that the main goal of this launch was to celebrate women who break barriers and to offer a $5 donation to the Women's Sports Foundation. Along with the release of their new packaging, Frito Lay partnered with singer Normani to celebrate women through a spinoff of the classic song, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". This launch has not only been beneficial for the sales of Cracker Jack, but it has also acknowledged and spread the word about women's sports and the amazing accomplishments female athletes achieve everyday. 

The Value Proposition of this product is to sell their company as a more inclusive and socially conscious brand. Cracker Jack has been around for over a century without making a marketing move this big so the new product should turn lots of heads in their direction. 

The main challenge that the Cracker Jack brand is trying to overcome is irrelevance. Their brand has been around for so long and has little to no diversity in the products, so it is difficult to increase sales without creating buzz in the media with a new product.

What makes Cracker Jack's approach unique is that they are marketing with a topic that could be considered controversial in some circumstances. This new product is definitely more appealing to a certain buyer persona which I would categorize as women. There is such little representation of women in the sports industry so when a brand launches a product celebrating those successes, it is definitely going to appeal more to those who are being represented.

This was a very clever marketing approach taken by the Cracker Jack company because they have now appealed to a whole new buyer persona by qualifying themselves as a socially conscious brand. Not only is this a smart approach for their marketing, but now they may be considered an innovative brand if companies take their lead by releasing products that acknowledge the successes of women in differing areas.

This marketing approach was spot on, but if I were a product manager for Cracker Jack, I would encourage the brand to begin making more inclusive products with packaging that displays people of different race, size, and possibly age. Including diversity within the representation of the Cracker Jack brand could broaden their buyer persona even more and lead to a huge spike in sales.

The main takeaway of this article is that brands are starting to become more aware of the societal issues that need addressing and focussing their product advertising on those topics. Overall this was a huge step for the success of women everywhere and for the brand name of Cracker Jack.