Barilla America, Inc. has the right idea with its new “Share Your Dinnertime Moments” program, an extension of the Bannockburn, Ill.-based company’s recently introduced “Share the Table” initiative. Share Your Dinnertime Moments invites families to submit photos, videos or blog posts demonstrating how they’re making dinner a more significant, fun and tasty occasion. All eligible entries will be entered for a chance to win a veritable smorgasbord of prizes, including a $5,000 dining-room makeover and a year’s supply of Barilla pasta and sauce.
Noted Barilla America president Kirk Trofholz, “Sharing [dinnertime] stories with others helps us make plans for the future, reminisce about the past and nurture the vital social nature of family dinners.” Behind the new program is new research by Barilla revealing that U.S. families want better-quality dinnertime interactions — with more conversation and fewer distractions — along with better meals prepared together.
The promotion, which runs through Feb. 22, uses San Diego-based Brickfish, a social media solution providing brands with a platform that energizes viral sharing among consumers via the social Web.
The particularly clever twist here is to encourage old-fashioned family unity — what could be more time-honored than breaking bread with your loved ones? — through a cutting-edge Internet venue. This way Barilla can have its cake and eat it, too, so to speak, by celebrating age-old virtues while resolutely embracing the future. Plus, of course, it gets to tout its products while doing both of those things.
Visit http://brickfish.sharethetable.com/ to get a look at the promotion.
Over the past few months, I have been involved in an inordinate number of conversations with retailers about the marketing implementation of new technology. And I have noticed a distressing trend – the technologists seem to think that they can make all of the marketing decisions on the fly. Now don’t get me wrong – I know that the technologists are critical when it comes to adopting new technologies – without them we would all still be using mechanical cash registers – but I need to speak up for the marketers and suggest that they do need to have a significant place at the table when new technology is being discussed.
