Welcome to The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights that covers the latest must-know news surrounding the CPG space.
Subway releases its most popular sauces in grocery stores nationwide
In time for National Sauce Month, Subway has partnered with specialty foods manufacturer T. Marzetti Company to make some of its most popular sauces available in grocery stores nationwide, per a company statement. Flavors include Sweet Onion Teriyaki, Roasted Garlic Aioli and Baja Chipotle, as well as a new sauce, Creamy Italian MVP. The release is part of the Subway Sauce program through the Subway Cares Foundation, which provides tuition assistance to Subway employees through the brand’s Fresh Start Scholarship Fund. Available in 16-ounce bottles, the sauces began rolling out this week at retailers including Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons, with more to come. Subway and T. Marzetti also created a series of recipes to promote each sauce.
See also: Taco Bell, in partnership with The Kraft Heinz Company, recently launched what it calls Cravings Kits, which come with everything customers need to make either a Crunchwrap Supreme or a Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla at home, as we noted in an earlier edition of The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods.
MoonPie releases “Solar Eclipse Survival Kits” campaign to celebrate the April 8 event
MoonPie this week named itself the “official sponsor” of the solar eclipse on April 8, releasing limited-edition “Solar Eclipse Survival Kits” in recognition of the event, per a brand statement. To celebrate “the day the moon wins,” the brand is selling “blackout boxes” of mini MoonPies in chocolate, vanilla or banana online at MoonPie.com and at Dollar Tree, Walmart and select grocery stores. The snack brand also launched a social media video campaign featuring a wrestling match between the two celestial bodies. “Sun vs. Moon ’24: Brutality in the Totality,” as the match is dubbed, is a spoof on traditional professional wrestling trailers, in which a wrestler portraying the sun faces off against another wrestler, the moon.
See also: This “solar eclipse smackdown” follows MoonPie’s “Alien Acquisition” campaign, which it humorously targeted at aliens, as we noted in the December 15, 2023 edition of The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods.
Bush’s Beans launches “Musical Fruit Contest” to inspire renditions of an iconic rhyme
Bush’s Beans kicked off a contest this week calling on bean fans and musicians everywhere to create their own “memorable tune that celebrates beans,” per a company statement. Playing off an iconic rhyme — “Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat …” — the brand is encouraging people to create a reimagined version that is “short and sweet” and highlights the “many bean-efits of beans” — namely that they are a good source of plant-based protein and fiber, as well as good for the soil in which they grow. The grand prize winner of Bush’s “Musical Fruit Contest,” as it’s called, will receive a $10,000 cash prize, Bush’s Beans for life and a trip to Nashville that includes a backstage VIP experience at the Grand Ole Opry, recording studio time and more. Four first prize winners will receive $5,000. Through April 18, fans can submit their song on Instagram or TikTok by tagging @BushsBeans and using the hashtag #themusicalfruitcontest.
The takeaway: Bush’s Beans is leveraging user-generated content to make light of beans’, uh, stinky reputation. If the brand gets a viral hit out of this, it’ll be worth it, right?
Liquid Death and e.l.f. Cosmetics partner on new “Corpse Paint” collection
Canned water brand Liquid Death and e.l.f. Cosmetics have partnered to create a new limited-edition collection of e.l.f. products “with a darker, punk vibe,” per Ad Age’s Tim Nudd. Called “Corpse Paint,” the five-piece makeup kit features existing products from the beauty brand, renamed for the collaboration, which come in a small, black branded coffin. The e.l.f. x Liquid Death collab is available at elfcosmetics.com for $34. To promote the launch, the brands collaborated on a video “styled like a cheesy upbeat beauty infomercial, in which a pair of girls are seen obsessing over a goth dude in a teen magazine who has KISS-like makeup,” Nudd writes. (Spoiler alert: The dude jumps off the magazine page and comes to life.)
The takeaway: Liquid Death, which is known for its tagline “Murder your thirst,” built its edgy brand on buzz — and “Corpse Paint” seems designed to extend that buzz across social media channels. In terms of the collaboration, “Unexpected is the strategy,” e.l.f. Beauty CMO Kory Marchisotto told Nudd.
MTN DEW launches two new loyalty programs focused on gaming and the outdoors
MTN DEW (aka Mountain Dew) has launched two new year-long rewards programs to provide adventurous fans opportunities “to live out their passions,” per a brand statement. Customers of the PepsiCo-owned brand can earn rewards toward outdoor gear and experiences with each purchase of specially marked MTN DEW products by entering codes found on product packaging at DEWOutdoors.com. Fans can redeem their points for items such as National Park Services annual passes, The North Face sleeping bags, Hydro Flask tumblers and more. Meanwhile, a separate partnership with Xbox on the MTN DEW Gaming Rewards program includes codes under the caps of 20 oz. MTN DEW bottles in various flavors that can be applied at MTNDEWGaming.com and redeemed for rewards from gaming industry brands on MTN DEW’s marketplace.
The takeaway: MTN DEW is already big with outdoor sports fans and gamers, so it makes sense for the brand to gamify fan loyalty.
Further reading
CPG packaging and rebrands:
- “Manischewitz rebrands to attract latent and new consumers” (Ad Age)
- “Following the ‘better-for-you’ trend, C4 rebrands & reformulates its pre-workout powders” (Modern Retail)
CPG mergers and acquisitions:
CPG performance:
- “Just Ice sales heat up a tea segment abandoned by Coca-Cola” (Food Dive)
- “Constellation defeats InBev appeal over Corona, Modelo seltzer branding” (Reuters)
CPG operations and expansions:
- “Anheuser-Busch 1st to adopt new US Farmed Certification consumer label to boost American agriculture” (ABC News)
- “Teremana Tequila expands global presence” (The Spirits Business)
- “Trader Joe’s has raised the price of one of its most popular products for the first time in over 20 years” (CNBC)
CPG launches and partnerships:
- “Skittles Drinks Reimagine a Favorite Gen Z Candy as a Beverage” (Trend Hunter)
- “White Claw debuts Tequila RTDs” (The Spirits Business)
- “Lay’s Is Debuting 4 Nostalgic Flavors That’ll Remind You of Home” (Food & Wine)
- “Lionel Messi partners with White Claw on new beverage brand” (Ad Age)
- “PepsiCo, Unilever launch Pure Leaf Zero Sugar sweet tea” (Food Dive)
- “Lainey Wilson Is Opening a Nashville Bar in Partnership With Coors’ Bourbon Brand — But It Will Only Be Open for 3 Days” (Whiskey Raiders)
CPG campaigns and promotions:
