BARILLA CAMPAIGN THE BEST COMES IN BLUE

Claire Casalaspi, Molly Greenwald, Liza McGraw, Anna Petke, and Hannah Plantz SECTION 1: Pre-Campaign Secondary Research

Brand Name/Company Name: Barilla Pasta

How long has the product existed: Barilla was founded by Pietro Barilla in 1877. It began as a small bakery on a small, vendor road in Par- ma, Italy. Barilla is known to be associated with the Italy’s finest food. Parma is home to the acclaimed Culatello cut of cured ham and Parmigiano cheese, also known as “parmesan” (Buckley, 2019).

Where is your product sold (Limited or mass distribution): • Barilla is an international brand with mass distribution (Marketline, 2019). • Largest markets are Italy and the United States (Marketline, 2019). • Barilla began exporting spaghetti and fettuccine to America in 1996 and within three years the brand had overtaken Mueller’s to become the No. 1 pasta seller in America (Orr, 2002). • Barilla was the first pasta-maker to market their products across large retailers and food-service companies across America such as Wal-Mart and Costco (Orr, 2002).

What is the cost of your product: • Barilla single 16 oz box: $1.28 (Walmart, 2019). • As I observed in many grocery stores, it depends on the retailer (McGraw, personal observation, 2019).

Main competitors and their costs: • Ronzoni • Single 16 oz box: $1.06 (Walmart, 2019). • 9.4% U.S households buy and used this brand as a first choice (Conley, 2013). • They make $126 million in revenue (Buckley, 2019). • Closest competitor (Orr, 2013). • Store brands • Great Value single 16 oz box: $1.00 (Walmart, 2019). • Food Lion single 16 oz box: $0.99 (Food Lion, 2019). • 26.6% of U.S households chose store brands first when buying noodles (Conley, 2013). • Mueller’s • Single 16 oz box: $1.32 (Walmart, 2019). • 12.8% of U.S households buy this brand as their first choice (Conley, 2013). • They make $106 million in revenue (Buckley, 2019). • Buitoni • Single 9 oz ravioli pack: $3.88 (Walmart, 2019). • 6.3% of U.S households buy and use this brand as a first choice (Conley, 2013). • They make $427 million in revenue (Buckley, 2019). (Buckley, 2019).

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your brand? Swot analysis with explanations and visuals:

Strengths • Strong market and brand position (Marketline, 2019). • Market leader in the pasta business in multiple countries including the United States. • Best-selling brand in the U.S (Marketline, 2019). • 32.4% of households saying they use it the most. • Wide geographical presence (Marketline, 2019). • Barilla exports its product to more than 100 countries. • Attention to changing preferences and values in the market. • Introduced gluten-free, veggie, and whole grain options and is committed to sustainable farming practices, etc (“How Barilla is adapting,” 2019). • It owns about a dozen food brands. • These include high-end Voiello pasta and Wasabrod, the world’s largest producer of Scandinavian crispbread (Buckley, 2019). • Does not do animal testing. • Barilla does not fund or support any animal testing and instead use a broad range of non- animal testings (“Our Position”, 2019). • Barilla has a brand ambassador. • Roger Federer is the brand ambassador for Barilla. He is a very well known athlete and embodies similar values to those that Barilla wish to convey with their customers. This will greatly help their goal to promote healthy living and eating (Barilla, 2019). Weaknesses

• Privately-held company with limited layers of management (Marketline, 2019). • Decisions are made by few members and could be detrimental to the company; lacks the wider perspective that a public limited company’s management provides to make business decisions. • Not mandated to disclose financial and operational activities as a private company; lack of transparency can be an obstacle to generating goodwill for the company. • Project Management (EMBA Pro, 2019). • Focuses too much on internal delivery rather than also considering external stakeholders. This is vital in order to maintain good public relations.

Opportunities

• Growth in the global bakery and sauce market (Marketline, 2019). • Hectic lifestyle, increasing demand for sugar free bakery products, preferences for organic and natural goods, changing eating patterns, and a growing young population all represent opportunities (Marketline, 2019). • Projected growth is 19% by 2021 for bakery and cereal market and 22% by 2021 for the market for sauces. • To capitalize on their mission to help make the planet a better place (“Good for you, Good for the planet”). • Emphasis on inclusion and diversity (“How Barilla is adapting,” 2019).

Threats

• Intense competition (Marketline, 2019). • Company operates in a highly competitive industry and competes with other companies with a global presence such as Nestle. • Strict regulation (Marketline, 2019). • Food products are highly regulated; brand has to deal with changing food-related regulations administrations like the FDA in the US. • Selling to U.S. American consumers. • They tend to be price-conscious about food, making it hard to persuade Americans to pay more even if the quality is better (Orr, 2002). How does your product compare in terms of shelf space with the competition? Explanations and visuals if applicable: • Barilla spends a lot of money buying shelf space in supermarkets and the sales staff must visit stores weekly to make sure that Barilla’s blue boxes get the block of shelf space that catches shoppers’ eyes (Orr, 2002). • Grocery stores in Harrisonburg, VA • Barilla is the dominant brand in terms of shelf space, with boxes on the top, middle and bottom shelves and products spaced laterally throughout the aisle. • At Kroger, Barilla has four separate shelving sections for traditional, artisan, gluten free, and health-conscious pastas (whole grain, red lentil, etc) (Greenwald, personal observation, 2019). • It’s also the only pasta brand with an endcap display in addition to its location in the pasta aisle at Kroger (Greenwald, personal observation, 2019). • At Food Lion, it has just as many boxes as their store brand but more boxes than other competitors such as Muellers (McGraw, personal observation, 2019). • At Walmart, it is further down the pasta aisle but it takes up the most space in comparison to Mueller’s and Great Value (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Also at Walmart, they will place the same type of noodle shape of different brand next to each other, i.e. Rotini of Great Value next to Rotini of Barilla (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Walmart also puts Barilla’s various pasta options at the end of the pasta section (protein pasta, chickpea pasta, and microwave pasta) on the bottom shelves so it is a little harder to find (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019).

Example 1: Kroger Example 2: Food Lion

Example 3: Walmart

Who buys the product and why? Can be more than 1 group, be specific: • Barilla consumers are generally middle and upper middle age; 35-44 and 45-54 year olds buy the brand most. They come from households with incomes of 100K or more, have college and advanced degrees, and have children (“Barilla Consumer Insights,” 2019). • College dining halls and healthcare retail operations: Barilla is an “instantly recognizable name and unsurpassed quality of the world’s leading Italian pasta” (Barilla, 2019). • Popular because of the various amounts of meals you can prepare with Barilla. They also find Barilla comforting and a healthy option. • Foodservice companies place an emphasis on utilizing brands that are easily recognizable and high high quality. • Barilla is popular for these consumers because the shape holds and it “cooks consistently, and stands up to the rigors of cooking in large quantities.” • Students living away from home (Barilla, 2019): • The importance of the blue box- they trust this box because it is something they have seen a plethora of times throughout their life. • Emphasis on brands that are high in quality and the brand. • “This generation is very brand-savvy.” Infographic from (“Barilla Consumer Insights,” 2019).

What is the main feature that differentiates your product and why: • One important thing that separates Barilla from its competitors is that Barilla leads the pasta indus- try in a variety of markets, which is a huge advantage to be present in over 100 countries and be labeled as “number 1” for many of its different products (Barilla, 2019). • World leader (volume share) on the pasta market. • Leader in Europe (value share) on the sauce market. • Leader in Italy (volume share) on the bakery market. • Leader in France (volume share) on the bread market. Personal Impressions of the strengths and weaknesses of the product. Each group member: • Anna: I think that the strength of this product is that the cost is reasonable and the brand has a good reputation. I think the weakness may be that there are so many different pasta brands that if a consumer goes into the store to buy pasta without knowledge of the brand and its purpose, they will chose another brand based on cost or packaging. • Hannah: I think that the packaging of Barilla is very well known so while in stores picking out a brand, the box stands out against other pasta brands. However the weakness with this is that some may not realize that they are buying Barilla if they are solely basing it off the box. This may make it harder to advertise if more people are aware of the packaging than the company name. Their website is also very put together and has a cleaner look than their competitors. • Molly: Alongside competitors in the pasta aisle, Barilla stands out because of its dark blue, simple packaging that catches your eye; it also looks higher end and gives off a more authentic vibe. They also have a variety of pastas, including gluten-free, plant-based and high protein options that appeal to health-minded shoppers. The price point is a bit more expensive than the store brand option. As a product, pasta is pretty simple, so it can be hard to convince customers that one brand is any different than another, which is why a good percentage of grocery shoppers opt for store brands rather than paying extra for a name brand like Barilla. • Claire: A strength of this pasta is that I think a lot of people who buy this brand have grown up eating it so they continue to buy it as they get older. Most people recognize the blue box in the aisle which makes them more inclined to purchase Barilla compared to the other brands. They also have a variety of pastas made with different things and have microwavable bags that take 90 seconds to cook. Barilla also has a better tasting pasta in comparison to their competition. A weakness is that it is a little more expensive compared to store brands and because there are so many brands to choose from it can be hard to really stand out. • Liza: I believe the largest strength of this brand is the fact that it’s the greatest consumed pasta product on the market. The “blue box” is an iconic, well-known pasta noodle brand and because of this, they have a ton more wiggle room for their advertisements. Another strength would be that it’s a family-owned and run company. I think customers appreciate that in a brand because they feel as if the product will have a higher quality since the product is made for “family”. A weakness of Barilla is that they are competing against pasta companies that are creating a product so similar if not identical to theirs. This makes differentiating your company more difficult. Is your product currently being advertised? Briefly describe an ad for your product and include a thumbnail or screenshot of the ad. • Barilla has had multiple TV spots; the brand’s most recent one from February 2019 is a continuation of a previous ad with Roger Federer, a famous Swiss tennis player, who used to not know pot from pan but with Barilla pasta has become a master chef (“Barilla the Party”, 2019). • The spot depicts Roger attending a party with celebrities but when he walks in it is shown that there is no food being served so all the guests are bored and hungry (“Barilla the Party”, 2019). • He then goes into the kitchen to start cooking and pulls out a box of spaghetti and the more he cooks the faster the music gets as moods start to lift. • The guests are now in the kitchen laughing and gathering over the pasta. • The only words spoken come at the end when Roger says, “buon appetito.” Besides that there is only Italian style music. • The end reveals the tagline of “Master of Pasta.” Primary Research

Survey Results: We surveyed 383 people from all over the country about their pasta habits and these were the results (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Of the 383 people 326 of them are in the age group 18-25. • 152 people said that they eat pasta once a week. • 248 people said they make pasta because it is easy and 242 said it is because they just love pasta. • When buying it at the store 283 people said they look for noodle shape. • 112 people said that their favorite type of noodle is penne. • 283 people said they buy the brand Barilla with 247 of them being in the age group 18-25.

We then surveyed another 146 people from all over the country about whether or not they knew the brand name of the pasta, these were the results (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Of the 146 people 76 of them said “yes” they know the name of the brand. • Of the 146 people 65 of them said “no, but they recognize the box” and 5 people had no clue what the box or brand was.

If people had answered “yes” to knowing the brand we had a fill in the blank question to see if they actually could name it (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • It turned out only 54 of the 76 people that answered “yes” got it right. • The other 22 people actually should have answered no. • Some responses that were wrong were: Barelli, Barillo, Bastilla, Bertoni, and even Penne (which was the noodle on the box). This is how we set up the question:

These were the results: Taste Test Results: • In a taste test, Barilla penne pasta was given to participants as well as Mueller’s penne pasta and a Food Lion store brand penne pasta. Each pasta was boiled in a different pot, but the taste-testers were not told which bowl was which brand. Six people were told to try all three brands of penne and report which had the best taste and the best quality. (McGraw, personal observation, 2019). • 4 people chose Barilla pasta for the best taste and the best quality. • 2 people chose the store brand pasta for the best taste and best quality. • 0 people chose Mueller’s pasta for either category.

• The taste test results clarified that Barilla pasta is the best tasting and best quality noodle, which is identical to the secondary research as well (McGraw, personal observation, 2019). • In a taste test given to a group of 18-22 year olds, Barilla penne pasta, Mueller’s penne pasta, and Great Value penne pasta were all given to them (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Each were boiled in a different pot but at the same temperature and for the same amount of time. • Thirteen people were told to try all three brands and give their thoughts about each one. • They first tried each brand without sauce or any kind of flavoring then tried them again with a sauce on it. In the order of Great Value, Mueller’s, and Barilla for both rounds. • Comments about Great Value without sauce: • Plain taste • Sticky • Gummy • Not super chewy • Not bad • Comments about Mueller’s without sauce • Firm • Feel healthier • Less Taste • Weird aftertaste • Plastic tasting • Chewy • Comments about Barilla without sauce • Very light • Favorite • Soft • Not gummy • Good flavor • Consistency • Comments about Great Value with sauce • Better with sauce • Edible • Bearable • Rubbery • Sticky • Better taste • Comments about Mueller’s with sauce • Harder • Chewy • Still bad after taste • Still plastic tasting • Comments about Barilla with sauce • Yum • Love Barilla • Best one • Good with sauce • In conclusion, all 13 people said they preferred Barilla pasta over the other two brands and that it had the best taste by far. • Picture from taste test (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019).

In-store Observation Results: (Casalaspi, personal observation, 2019). • Man about 40 years old, looked at Barilla then got Great Value brand. • Older couple about 65 years old, grabbed Great Value after looking at Barilla. • Woman about 30 years old, got Great Value spaghetti after looking at the price of Barilla. • A 20 year old picked up Mueller’s then put it back for Great Value. • Two girls in their 20’s immediately picked Great Value without looking at anything else. Creative Brief

Company: Barilla Group Brand: Barilla Product Category: Packaged Goods

1. Target: • Persona: Tess • Demographics • Age: 28 • Gender: Female • Income: $65,000 • Education: Bachelor’s degree • Ethnicity: White • Marital status: Single, long-term relationship • Family size: No children, has a french bulldog • Rent/Buy home: Rents a condo • Religion: Christian • Profession: Real Estate Agent • Geographic: Charleston, South Carolina • Psychographics: Cycling classes, vineyards and breweries, dog mom, binging the show Friends, cares about her appearance, social media enthusiast, spending time on the beach, cares about the environment (only uses metal straws), loves architecture and art history. • Behavioral: Will spend extra money on higher end and/or organic products because she cares about the quality and health factor of the ingredients. Shops in-store for groceries, but online for most products. • VALs: Experiencer • Want everything • Are first in and first out of trend adoption • Are up on the latest fashions • Love physical activity (are sensation seeking) • See themselves as very sociable • Believe that friends are extremely important • Are spontaneous • Have a heightened sense of visual stimulation. • Other: Loves to run her dog’s Instagram page and drive around in her BMW. 2. Current Mindset: Tess buys Barilla because the packaging is familiar and easy to pick out in the store, but is not brand loyal. She will also buy other brands of pasta based on what the packaging looks like in the store or noodle type. 3. Desired Mindset: We want Tess to associate Barilla with not only the blue box but with the brand name and the quality and authenticity it represents. 4. Competitors: • Ronzoni • Tess likes that this brand has gluten free pasta and other alternatives for noodles be cause sometimes she likes to choose that option when her stomach hurts or if friends are gluten free. • Mueller’s • Tess has bought Mueller’s before, but hated the packaging and thought the aftertaste was not as appetizing as other pasta brands. • Buitoni • Tess only considers buying Buitoni if she wants pre-made ravioli or tortellini. • Store brands (Food Lion, Great Value) • Although the price is tempting, Tess never buys store brand pasta because she does not like how the noodles fall apart and it may be cheaply made. 5. Message objective(s): • Promote brand recall • We want customers and consumers to not only remember Barilla for its blue box, but its brand name as well. • Link key attributes to the brand • Significance of the blue box. 6. Creative Strategy Concept- Big Idea: • You know the blue box, now you know our name. 7. Evidence: • The popularity of the blue box. Consumers trust this box because it stands out to them at grocery stores. • Blue box represents tradition and authenticity; before the cardboard box, loose noodles were wrapped in blue paper. • We lead the world in the pasta market. 8. Creative execution: • Our goal is to leave viewers remembering the brand name, Barilla, after seeing or watching each ad. We will do this by connecting users’ familiarity with the blue box with the name Barilla. Copy and visuals will reinforce the brand name and we will discuss the quality of our products in order to reinforce the brand name as well. 9. Tone: • Informative, sophisticated, light-hearted SECTION 2: Print Ads Headlines

1. Many things are blue, but only we are Barilla. 2. Barilla, you could say that again. 3. The L’s aren’t silent. 4. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. 5. Not just another blue box. 6. Nothing Beats Barilla. 7. Taste the difference. 8. A bite of excellence. 9. Quality pasta. Quality Time. 10. You don’t know the good stuff until you’ve had Barilla. 11. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but what about pasta by its box? 12. Go ahead, judge us by our cover. 13. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover… but go ahead, judge ours. 14. Pasta like Barilla comes once in a blue moon box. 15. You buy pasta that’s made in america? Isn’t pasta Italian? 16. Barilla is the girl your man tells you not to worry about. 17. Eating pasta that’s not from Italy is like . . . (visual metaphor) 18. Our box is blue. • We can think of some other things. . . (blue ribbon visual). 19. Our box isn’t the only thing that sets us apart. 20. You won’t want to think outside Barilla’s blue box. 21. No more dinner time blues with Barilla. 22. Barilla, the most important blue of the day. 23. BA-RI-LAH, BI-R-LAH, BUH-RILL-AHH. • The perfect pasta, any way you put it. 24. Our name? A little tricky. Our blue box of pasta? Unforgettable. 25. Our name? A little tricky. Our blue box of pasta? Unforgettable. 26. The blue box of pasta that makes your boyfriend think he’s Gordon Ramsey. 27. The blue box of pasta that’s ruining your new low carb diet, but you don’t care. 28. The blue box of pasta that cures your hanger (and saves your friendships). 29. The blue box of pasta that’s as reliable as your mom on speed dial. 30. The blue box of pasta that feels like Italy (when you’re actually on your couch in sweatpants). Taglines

1. More than a blue box. 2. We are Barilla. 3. We are the blue box. We are Barilla. 4. B stands for Barilla. 5. There’s only one Barilla. 6. Made with Love, Barilla. 7. If you don’t know, now you know. • Different variations of ads showing our name. 8. We are the world’s top choice. Are we yours? 9. Did you get our name now? 10. A different kind of blue. 11. A box in a billion. 12. Good things come in blue. 13. The blue box you’ve been waiting for. 14. Remember the name, remember the taste. 15. Perfect bite every time. 16. So good you’ll want more, Barilla. 17. Barilla, more than the blue box. 18. The best comes in blue. 19. Taste you won’t forget, Barilla. 20. Dinner at its Barilla best. 21. Go with authentic. 22. We know pasta. 23. Authentic quality, authentic taste. 24. Only the best, Barilla. 25. The name you won’t forget. 26. You know our color, now you know our name. 27. You know the blue box, now you know our name. 28. Royal blue, royal brand. 29. Loyal as our color blue. 30. Hard to pronounce, easy to love. Thumbnails

Ads

Barilla (pasta) buh ril uh

The blue box that cures your “hanger” and saves friendships.

TH BST COMS B Barilla (pasta) buh ril uh

The blue box that’s more reliable than your mom on speed dial.

TH BST COMS B Barilla (pasta) buh ril uh

The blue box that makes your boyfriend think he’s Gordon Ramsay.

TH BST COMS B Magazine Templates

Rationale

For our print ads, we decided to go off what the average “dictionary definition” looks like. We decided to use this look for the layout because our creative strategy is to enforce the brand name, Barilla. A “dictionary definition” of Barilla would reinforce readers on how to pronounce the name and the humorous definitions we created would help readers to recall the brand name easier. Each definition brings out a different quality for Barilla and is worded in a way that is relatable to our target audience. Our tone is informative by writing out the pronunciations for Barilla and light-hearted because we use a casual description of how or why people eat Barilla. The background color for all 3 print ads is the same blue shade as the Barilla box to exhibit the well-known color of the box. We used the font Avenir because that is the same font Barilla uses on their box. We used penne noodles for the slashes and orzo as the hyphen to reinforce that Barilla is a pasta brand, for those who may not be as familiar. Our tagline and logo are at the bottom of each print ad to again, reinforce the brand name. We created the tagline, “The Best Comes in Blue” because Barilla is the number one selling boxed pasta brand in America and our research showed that the majority of people within our target market know and recognize Barilla for their blue box. Our print ads relate to our target audience, the experiencers, because they want the best products yet are spontaneous enough to purchase a product based on an advertisement they see. SECTION 3: TV Commercial TV Script

Title: There’s a name for that blue box Client: Barilla Length: :30 Air dates: December 2019- March 2020

CU OF WOMAN #1 TURNING ON THE MUSIC: UP BEAT MUSIC STARTS. STOVETOP BURNER. (:1.7) SFX: GAS IGNITING. (:1.7)

CU OF WOMAN #1 OPENING TOP OF SFX: BOX TOP RIPPING SOFTLY. (:1) BARILLA BLUE BOX. (:1)

POV OF WOMAN #1’S ARM POURING BARILLA NOODLES INTO BOILING POT OF WATER (SLOW MOTION). (:1.4)

MS OF WATER BOILING AND BOX (:2.2)

WS OF FRIENDS SEATED ON COUCH. (:2.0) WOMAN #2: Hey what are you cooking? (:2.4)

MS OF WOMAN #1 BEHIND KITCHEN WOMAN #1: Barilla! (:1.5) COUNTER (:1.5)

CU OF WOMAN #3 (:1.2) WOMAN #3: Isn’t it Barilli? (:1.2)

CU OF WOMAN #1 (:2.2) WOMAN #1: No, Barilla. (:2.2)

CU OF MAN #1 (:1.2) MAN #1: Gorilla? (:1.2)

CU OF WOMAN #4 (:1.5) WOMAN #4: No, it’s Barillo (:1.5)

MS OF WOMAN #4, WOMAN #5 AND MAN WOMAN #5: What are we talking about? (:2.0) #1, LOOKING CONFUSED. (:2.0)

MS OF WOMAN #1 HOLDING UP THE BLUE WOMAN #1: BARILLA. Like BAR-ILL-UH. BOX EMPHATICALLY. (:3.0) (:3.0)

MS OF WOMAN #2 AND WOMEN #3 WOMAN #2: Oh, the one in the blue box! SEATED ON THE COUCH. (:2.9) WOMAN #3: Ohhhhh, I LOVE that pasta!

WS OF EVERYONE ON COUCH. WOMAN #1 MUSIC: LIGHT ITALIAN MUSIC LOWERS. PLACES PASTA ON TABLE. (:2.8)

MS OF PLATE OF PASTA WITH BARILLA BOX ANNCR: (VO) “There’s a name for that blue ON TABLE. (:2.5) box. Barilla, the best comes in blue” Storyboard

Key Frame/Rationale

For our TV ad, in order to reinforce the brand name, what’s better than saying it over and over again? We knew from our primary research that people within our target audience knew Barilla as the “pasta with the blue box” and not as much for the brand name. We chose a light- hearted, sarcastic tone for our ad in order to make viewers laugh but become informed that Barilla is pronounced “Buh-ril-uh” and not one of the variations people often use. We chose a typical scene of friends making dinner and drinking wine to relate to our target audience of late 20 year olds on a typical night either after work or on a casual weekend night. With mostly close-ups in order for the audience to focus solely on the facial expressions of the actors and how they pronounce Barilla. The upbeat music with a quick tempo to grab the viewers’ attention and maintain a level of energy throughout the ad. We shot as many scenes as we could with the Barilla box included in order to keep showing the brand and the recognizable blue box. We chose this image for the key frame because it represents the overall big idea for the ad. The iconic blue box is shown and without Liza making the pasta, the guests would have never known to ask what she was making. SECTION 4: Social Media Instagram Ship Rationale

We chose Instagram and Ship, the dating app, for our social media presence.

Instagram is an app that allows users to share photos, and videos with their followers. In October of 2019, researchers found that women under the age of 34 make up more than half of the Instagram population worldwide. (We are Social, 2019) Brands utilize Instagram because of the high rates of engagement that correlate to the content. Even though Facebook has more users, the rate of engagement of Instagram users is 58% higher than those on Facebook. (Instagram, 2019) Barilla is very active on Instagram, posting new content almost every day. Another reason we chose Instagram is because of the ability to create sponsored ads. This means that even if the user is not directly following the brand, sponsored content can be shown on their feed. Instagram targets our desired audience because she is an experiencer that loves feeling connected to her friends through her posts. She also uses Instagram to keep up with what is popular and all of the brands she follows.

For our Instagram ads we wanted to attract consumers with three Instagram stories and one sponsored ad. The first story places the emphasis on the name by repeating it’s pronunciation with a visual, while the second creates an association between the blue box and the name Barilla with humor. The sponsored ad appeals to our desired target audience because they are attracted to popular brands that have a good aesthetic. The visual portrays the product in a glamorous light, using a blue carpet in place of the classic red to reflect our tagline “The Best Comes in Blue.” The headline “Roll out the best” encourages consumers to choose Barilla if they want to prepare the best pasta for themselves and their friends. The logo and tagline appear on every Instagram ad for consistency, along with the font Avenir.

Launched in January 2019, Ship is an innovative dating app that allows users to involve their friends in the matchmaking process. Friends can pick out potential dates by swiping on your behalf, and you can even discuss profiles and matches an in-app group chat with your “Crew.” Ship was launched by Betches Media, a women-owned digital media company. While the app does not currently offer advertising, it will likely follow the path of other prominent apps such as Tinder, which began offering programmatic advertising in 2017 (Liffreing, 2017). Additionally, a 2019 article reported that Ship is now the fastest-growing dating app in the Match Group family, which also includes Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and PlentyofFish (Khalid, 2019). In a 2019 US survey, online users aged 18-34 were the leading group who used a dating website or app, with 19% saying they had used one in the past and 14% currently doing so (YouGov, 2019). This contributed to our decision to select a dating app for our Barilla ads, as the primary users fall within our target market. Ship’s unique approach that celebrates friendship is something our target audience, the experiencers, would be interested in, because they are the first to try new trends, are very sociable and believe friendships are extremely important.

The copy used in the Ship ads reflects the humorous tone in our print ads, while also being content-specific to dating in order to fit the app. For the primary visual, we used a frame from our TV spot to emphasize the blue box as well as to add to the overall cohesiveness of the campaign. The image displays both the blue box and a plate of prepared pasta near candlelight, set to a background of someone enjoying a glass of wine. This evokes a romantic date-night feeling that works well for users considering what to prepare for/with their potential date and situates Barilla pasta as the perfect choice. For consistency, we once again used Avenir as the font and placed the Barilla logo paired with our tagline in the corner. SECTION 5: Out of Home Headlines

• Do you really feel like spending more than 10 minutes on dinner after this? Pick up our blue box of pasta that’s easy to make and easier to love. • The blue box of pasta that cures post-grocery-shopping hunger like no other. • Feet up. TV on. A hot bowl of pasta. This could be you tonight. (Find Barilla on aisle 4) • The blue-box solution to post-errands hunger/dinner. (Find Barilla on aisle 4) • “Find out why the best comes in blue” on aisle 4. • The perfect dimensions for tonight’s dinner. (find the blue-box solution on aisle 4) • The blue-box solution to tonight’s dinner. (Find BARILLA on aisle 4) • The blue-box solution to tonight’s dinner. (you’ll thank Barilla later) • The blue-box solution to tonight’s dinner. (Aisle 4. You’ll be glad you chose Barilla) • Getting hungry? Barilla’s got you. Find the blue-box solution to tonight’s dinner. (aisle 4) • Don’t think outside this blue box. (BARILLA, aisle 4) • Notice anything missing? Barilla is the blue-box solution. • This empty space is getting pretty lonely… find Barilla’s blue-box solution on aisle 4. • If you haven’t figured it out, your cart is missing something. Find barilla on aisle 4. • Only one blue box fits here. Find Barilla on aisle 4 • A top tier pasta deserves to be above the rest. • Dinner in 10 minutes, our blue box promise. • A place for the best item in your cart. • Place Irresistible pasta here. Thumbnails

Out of Home Ad Out of Home Mockup Rationale

For our out of home ad, we knew that we needed to have an ad that was in placed in an environment where you would purchase Barilla. We chose a shopping cart in order for our target audience to immediately notice Barilla when they begin shopping. We created a place with the same dimensions as the Barilla box, for shoppers to place their Barilla box when they grab one off the shelf. We did this because the concept went well with our tagline, “The Best Comes in Blue,” because the Barilla box is in a special place in the cart, above the other grocery items. We chose the same blue as the rest of our ads to match Barilla box, used the logo and the same Avenir font. Our goal for the OOH ad was for shoppers to immediately see the space for Barilla and head to the pasta aisle. This OOH relates to our target audience because they have a heightened sense of visual stimulation and would enjoy putting the Barilla box into the space provided. The tone of our OOH ad is informative, simple, and direct in order to get our point across quickly that shoppers should put the Barilla box in the slot. SECTION 6: Guerrilla Marketing Guerrilla Marketing Ad Rationale

For our guerilla marketing ad we decided to create a blue carpet to reinforce our tagline, “The Best Comes in Blue.” We also created images of two Barilla boxes and the logo when one enters the grocery store to reinforce brand recognition and the known image of their blue box. We chose to create a carpet in order to give shoppers a similar feeling of walking on Hollywood’s superior red carpet. The blue carpet is the same shade of blue as the Barilla box and the rest of our campaign. We chose to create a blue carpet in the location of a grocery store in order to lead shoppers to the aisle where Barilla is sold. We made the front door of the grocery store have the logo of Barilla in order to reinforce the brand name. The side windows of the front door are Barilla boxes to reinforce the iconic blue box that a majority recognize. Our goal is for shoppers to walk into the grocery store, view the logo Barilla, and then want to follow where the blue carpet takes them. Our guerilla marketing ad relates to our target audience because it’s spontaneous and the blue carpet showcases how Barilla is a high-quality choice for pasta and that they would enjoy walking down it to see where it leads. The tone of our guerilla marketing ad is sophisticated and informative. SECTION 7: Viral Video Storyboard Key Frame/Rationale

In order to produce our viral video, we thought about our favorite viral videos and why we liked them. We came to the conclusion that the youtube videos of James Corden and his “Carpool Karaoke” would be relatable to our target, use humor to get our message across, while grabbing the attention of our viewers quickly. James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” has reached over 5,000,000 views per video. We created “Barilla Beats” to reinforce the brand name Barilla in every “carpool karaoke” song. Like James Corden, Hannah would pick up friends along the way and play a song. However, with Barilla Beats, the guest has to incorporate Barilla, the blue box, or pasta in the lyrics. We had friends sit in the back of the car eating Barilla and showing the blue box as well. In order to increase the viral potential for our video, we included at the end of the video a way for viewers to interact with Barilla Beats. We told viewers to make their own Barilla Beats video to share, using #BarillaBeats. Barilla Beats relates to our target audience because Carpool Karaoke is a trend on social media as well as a very social activity to do with friends having a good time. The tone of our video is humorous and light-hearted.

We chose this image as the key frame because it incorporates Hannah and the microphone for Barilla Beats and the blue box of Barilla, which is the purpose of the entire concept of making songs about the brand. SECTION 8: Branded Product Placement Script

Product Placement

Rationale

After viewing The Lunch Date, we decided that we would primarily place Barilla within the diner. We designed a retro-looking poster reading “We Proudly Serve Italy’s #1 Pasta” with the Barilla logo. The poster fit the vintage aesthetic of the diner and was placed on a back wall that the woman passes multiple times in the diner scene. We also positioned a Barilla box behind the counter on a shelf near the kitchen in order to display the brand in a different form and provide evidence of it being used in the diner. Both of these placements take place during the diner scene, which is a pivotal moment in the plot. We also positioned Barilla earlier in the film as the lady misses her train, replacing the current Marlboro ad to create a sense of continuity with the later appearances of Barilla in the diner. PRESENTATION

REFERENCES References

Pre-Campaign - First and Secondary Research

Accounting, F. (2019, March 4). MBA SWOT : Academia Barilla SWOT Analysis & Matrix-strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats. Retrieved from https://embapro.com/frontpage/swotcase/4455-barilla-s-pasta

Barilla. (2019, January 26). Barilla: Power of the brand. Retrieved from https://www. foodservicedirector.com/operations/barilla-power-brand.

Barilla Demographics and Consumer Insights. (2019). Retrieved from https://snapshot.numerator.com/brand/barilla.

Barilla - Good for You. Good for the Planet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.barillagroup.com/en/highlights.

Barilla Testimonial. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.barilla.com/en-us/help/barilla-testimonial

Barilla the Party. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.72andsunny.com/work/barillatheparty.

Buckley, T. (2019). How Barilla Put Pride in Its Pasta. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4614), 50–55. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid,athe ns,shib&custid=s8863137&db=bth&AN=136363192&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Casalaspi, C. (2019). Personal Observation.

Conley, P. (2013, October 24). The top 10 U.S. pasta brands: Who owns the marketplace in 2013? Retrieved October 8, 2019, from https://www.grocerydive.com/news/the-top-10-us-pasta-brands- who-owns-the-marketplace-in-2013/536677/

Food Lion. (2019). Food Lion Pot-ready Spaghetti, 16 oz. Retrieved from https://shop.foodlion.com/search?search_term=spaghetti

Greenwald, M. (2019). Personal Observation.

How Barilla is adapting to the future of food. (2019, June 4). Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/how_barilla_is_adapting_to_the_future_of_ food/42168

MarketLine Company Profile: Barilla Holding SpA. (2019). Barilla Holding Societa per Azioni MarketLine Company Profile (pp. 1–22). Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.

McGraw, L. (2019). Personal Observation. Orr, D. (2002, November 25). A passion for pasta. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/ global/2002/1125/036.html#6365a08f7824.

Walmart. (2019). Barilla Classic Blue Box Pasta Penne 16 oz. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/ip/Barilla-Classic-Blue-Box-Pasta-Penne-16-oz/10309178?selected=true

Walmart. (2019). BUITONI Spinach & Artichoke Ravioli Refrigerated Pasta 9 oz. Pack. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/ip/BUITONI-Spinach-Artichoke-Ravioli-Refrigerated-Pasta-9-oz- Pack/163409952

Walmart. (2019). Great Value Penne Rigate 16 oz. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great- Value-Penne-Rigate-16-Oz/188561999

Walmart. (2019). Mueller’s Penne Pasta, 16 oz. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mueller-s- Penne-Pasta-16-0-OZ/10312408

Walmart. (2019). Ronzoni Penne Rigate Pasta, 16-oz box. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/ip/ Ronzoni-No-76-Penne-Rigate-Pasta-16-Ounce-Box/10293411?selected=true

Social Media Rationale

Instagram, & Trackalytics. (September 2, 2019). Instagram accounts with the most followers worldwide as of September 2019 (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/421169/ most-followers-instagram/

Khalid, A. (2019, August 14). Dating app Ship lets friends find your matches. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/15/the-dating-app-ship-lets -friends-find-your-matches/.

Liffreing, I. (2017, February 23). Tinder adopts programmatic advertising. Retrieved from https://www. campaignlive.com/article/tinder-adopts-programmatic-advertising/1423034.

We Are Social, & DataReportal, & Hootsuite. (October 25, 2019). Distribution of Instagram users worldwide as of October 2019, by age and gender [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/248769/age-distribution-of-worldwide-instagram- users/

YouGov. (February 6, 2019). Percentage of online users in the United States who have used a dating website or app as of January 2019, by age group [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/310344/us-online-dating-app-site-usage-age/ Images

Becker, G. (Photographer). (2017). Raw Noodle [Photograph], Retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/ photo/depth-of-field-food-pasta-uncooked-320539/

Blue Felt Background [Photograph]. (2016). Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ background-texture-felt-blue-1279718/

Brandsvectorlogo.com. Barilla Pasta Vector Logo [SVG], Retrieved from https://brandsvectorlogo.com/ barilla-pasta-vector-logo-3628.html

Casalaspi, C. (2019). Illustrator. Created in Adobe Illustrator.

Casalaspi, C. (2019). Illustrator. Created in Adobe Illustrator.

Casalaspi, C. (2019). Photographer. Cellentani - Barilla Homepage [Photograph]. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.barilla.com/en-us

Farfalle - Barilla Homepage [Photograph]. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.barilla.com/en-us

Freepik. Scene Illumination Collection [EPS], Retrieved from https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/scene- spotlights-collection_4148280htm#page=1&query=spotlight&position=0#position=0&page=1&q uery=spotlight

Grocery Store Doors [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://fdc.com/fdc-gallery/picture.php?/158

Habeshaw, G (Photographer). (2018). Ring box [photograph], Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/SluAA9cKz58

Majid, F. (Photographer). (2006). Gemelli [Photograph], Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/Category:Gemelli#/media/File:Gemelli_crop.jpg

Miller, K. (2019). Photographer. Pasta Header [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.futurebrand.com/our-work/barilla

Public Domain Vectors. Red Carpet Vector drawing [SVG], Retrieved from https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/ free-clipart/Red-carpet-vector-drawing/15058.html

Audio

McGraw, L (2019). Voice over.

Thomas, Pete (Composer). Atmosphere Music Ltd. (2007) Spoon Time [MP3], Retrieved from https://www.universalproductionmusic.com/en-us/discover/albums/5339/Home-Food Life?wid=117661

Video

Miller, K. (2019). Videographer.

Plantz, H. (2019). Editor.

Plantz, H. (2019). Videographer and Editor.