Barbara’s Bakery:
Plugging into Today’s Digitally Connected Consumers and Bringing Them Through the Organic and Natural Gateway

By Kat Schuett


Generation Z, comprised of those born between 1995 and 2010, is the most electronically connected generation in history. Practically born with an MP3 player in one hand and a laptop in the other, they have had lifelong use of a wide variety of communications and media technologies, earning them the nickname “digital natives.” So how does one best communicate with these super-connected kids?

For Barbara’s Bakery, it’s a game, quite literally. In May 2009, Barbara’s Bakery, in partnership with Majesco Entertainment, launched a major promotion for “Puffins: Island Adventure,” an educational video game for Nintendo DS handheld systems that features images from the company’s Puffins and Wild Puffs cereals.

This is just one of the many ways that Barbara’s is scoring points with today’s digitally connected consumer. Last year, the company also launched a series of television advertisements that boosted sales by up to 70 percent in several markets. In addition, the company is reaching out via cyberspace, creating awareness through social networking, online contests and interactive tools. Barbara’s product development has also tapped into current consumer trends ranging from functional foods to private label. Through its innovative products, creative marketing and key partnerships, Barbara’s Bakery has found many ways to connect with today’s consumers and create a bridge for the mainstream shopper to cross over into into organic and natural foods.

Reaching Out to Gen Z
With generations X, Y and their predecessors, technology often hindered parents from connecting with their children. For example, how many of you have parents who still have no clue how to text or even use email? Generation Z, however, marks an important change as the first generation where parents and children are fully embracing technology together. Today, parents are using these new tools as teaching aids and entertainment for their children.

This presents a unique opportunity for companies to interact and communicate with consumers on a new level. So when Majesco Entertainment called and wanted to partner with Barbara’s Bakery to create an educational game that would put a spotlight on the company’s famed endangered species mascot and Puffins and Organic Wild Puffs cereals, Barbara’s Bakery was happy to sign on.

“This technology allows us to connect with kids in a fun and exciting new way,” said Kent Spalding, vice president of marketing. “It also takes the brand beyond cereal, and hopefully will help increase awareness of puffins and support the preservation of their species for many years to come.”

In “Puffins: Island Adventure,” when the player wins certain points, an educational puffin factoid pops up on the screen. In conjunction with the launch of the game, the company is also hosting a national instant-win game where a code will be featured on specially marked Puffins and Organic Wild Puffs cartons. Consumers can then enter the code into the Puffins website to see if they have won a free copy of the game. Additionally, Barbara’s Bakery has an advertisement for Puffins and Organic Wild Puffs that appears in the video game manual.

15 Seconds of Fame. Barbara’s superstar brand, Puffins, also recently had its debut on television in several areas including Boston, Baltimore and Washington, DC, airing during prime time alongside The Emmy Awards and Oprah, as well as on The Discovery Channel. The 15-second spots were done in a style similar to the sarcastic and edgy adult cartoon “South Park,” so that they appealed to grownups as well as kids, positioning the cereal as a healthy choice for the whole family. The response was overwhelming, with 70 percent growth in the markets where the spots were aired.

“We had a market researcher studying this and she commented that in the 20 years of doing this type of research, she has never seen such a response,” Spalding said. “What this proves is that people want to eat healthier, natural foods, but you just have to educate them. Many of these consumers have never even been in the natural foods section of the supermarket. Through the video game and television ads, we are introducing ourselves to a new range of consumers who may not have even known we existed.”

The fact that the company was airing the commercials also compelled many retailers to offer special merchandising opportunities. With the exposure on television and the in-store presence, not only did Puffins sales take off, but sales for many of the other products from Barbara’s Bakery significantly increased as well.

After seeing such positive results, the company is planning to launch more television campaigns this year, including a campaign that specifically highlights its Organic Wild Puffs, which were recently rebranded to align more strongly with the company’s strong Puffins brand and better reach out to kids and families (see “The Organic Wild Puffs Makeover”).

The Online Connection. While video games and commercials get consumers’ attention, the internet serves as a key tool for those who want to learn more, get involved and share their feelings with the world. This is especially true for the younger generations who have grown up with the internet.

To reach out to these cyberspace children, Barbara’s Bakery created a multi-faceted, highly engaging web presence and social media network. Kids can learn more about puffins through the website, www.puffinscereal.com, which features a “Puffin Love” blog, games, downloadable puffin coloring pages—and even a kids’ podcast, where letters from kids are chosen to be read in an online video (and those chosen also get a free Puffins lunchbox).

Consumers can also shop for puffin PJs and puffin toys in the online store, or find out more about the Audubon Society’s “Project Puffin,” which Barbara’s Bakery actively supports. Most recently, in February of 2009, the company even launched a fan site for Puffins and Wild Puffs on Facebook.com.

“It’s important to be aware of the way consumers communicate today and to be a part of that digital conversation,” Spalding said. “These technologies are how we are now communicating our values as a brand, and the values of the organic and natural industry, for that matter.”

Empowering Action. Compared to kids from prior generations, Gen Z has increased awareness of the environmental and social issues we face and they want a way to take action. The “Adopt-A-Puffin” program is one way Barbara’s helps kids get involved. For every 250 box tops that a classroom or club collects, Barbara’s will adopt one puffin for a year. So far, the company has adopted 8 puffins. Through the company’s website, kids can read about the puffins that have been adopted (which are named and have complete online bios) and even follow a link to view the Puffin Web Cam, which Barbara’s sponsors.

In addition, Barbara’s Bakery is co-sponsoring “The Dr. Kress How I Saved The World Award,” named after the founder of Project Puffin. Kids submit a 50-word essay on something positive they have done to help their communities or the environment and “celebrity” judges, including Dr. Kress and the director of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), will review entries and award five $1000 grants. The contest runs May through August, 2009.

Lastly, Barbara’s Bakery also created a 10-year, $50,000 grant to fund organic school gardens in Petaluma School District schools, home of the Barbara’s Bakery Corporate Headquarters. The first grant went to Valley Vista School, a K-6 elementary school. With the Barbara’s $5,000 grant as the cornerstone, the school was able to turn a dying patch of grass into a vibrant, child-centered garden. The garden now serves as a model organic teaching garden for schools nationwide. So far, Barbara’s grants have funded organic teaching gardens and curriculum at 11 of the 17 Petaluma School District schools.

Marketing to Grown-Ups
In addition to kids, Barbara’s Bakery is using innovative product development and social marketing to reach out to the adult population. The main difference is that rather than how many Puffin Points they can win, these customers are more interested in racking up as many antioxidants as possible. These days, consumers are more focused than ever on the health benefits of food and because of this the growth of functional foods, or foods with added nutrients, is skyrocketing.

To respond to this demand, Barbara’s developed its Organic Ultima line, which features an omega-3-rich cereal, a high-fiber cereal and two antioxidant cereals, including Blueberries and Blue Corn, the latest new product release hitting stores in June.

Spalding said that these cereals have been a great way to reach out to the mainstream because functional foods in general are so popular right now. “Mainstream stores are excited to take on this line because the functional category is selling so much better than the traditional categories,” he noted.

To spread the word, Barbara’s Bakery did some traditional print advertising, but then once again went out into cyberspace—offering samples and writing articles for RealSavvyMoms.com and LivingNaturally.com.

In addition, the company is also hosting yet another non-product specific contest in conjunction with the NWRA, where consumers are asked to take a video or write a 50-word essay on their favorite experience in a national wildlife preserve. The winner will be awarded a trip to Alaska for four. This relationship with the NWRA also gives Barbara’s exposure to over a million members of the organization.

Making It Easier to Cross the Gateway
While the television ads and social networking are important factors in educating the transitional consumer, one of the biggest obstacles for organic, especially in this economy, is price. Spalding said that this is where the cereal category as a whole serves one of its biggest purposes—to make the transition affordable. “There is a perception that organic is much more expensive, but with cereal that is not the case. Oftentimes for just a few pennies more, consumers can have the organic option and in some cases, organic cereals can even cost less than conventional,” he said. “Because of this, cereal serves as a great gateway food to enter into the organic lifestyle even in hard economic times.”

Spalding theorizes that one of the reasons why conventional cereals are often priced so close to organic is due to conventional brands’ massive marketing budgets. Barbara’s Bakery is also able to provide a more economical option because of its multi-tiered approach which includes private label and industrial ingredient manufacturing. Through this, the company can keep machines productive and equalize the ups and downs of sales in an unsteady economy.

Overall, connecting with today’s consumer is a game that involves engaging consumers in ever more interactive and empowering ways while balancing this with a strong product at a price consumers can handle—and in this game, Barbara’s Bakery is definitely scoring high.

Kat Schuett is the editorial director of Organic Processing Magazine. You can reach her at kat@organicprocessing.com.


Saving the Puffins
For Barbara’s Bakery, “Puffins” is much more than a brand name, it is a mission. Ever since the cereal was first introduced in 1995, the company has used a myriad of resources, from the back of its cereal box to its website and a host of promotions, to educate consumers on the Audubon Society’s efforts to restore puffins to their former habitat off the coast of Maine. Puffins once had thriving colonies on eastern Egg Rock Island and Seal Island but by 1973, the orange-footed birds had nearly been hunted into extinction. Today, thanks to Audubon’s Project Puffin, and those that have supported it, over 101 pairs of puffins have nested on Egg Rock Island, and over 375 pairs on Seal Island. Learn more by visiting Audubon’s www.projectpuffin.org.