The IPC's Fearless Field Force campaign recently prevailed in the 2012 Produce Business Marketing Excellence Awards. It marked the IPC's fifth consecutive award for a creative marketing campaign.
As modern-day super heroes, Tubman and his cohorts had profit-boosting powers and the savvy to come up with heroic but practical solutions for retailers' challenges.
The IPC made pint glass sets featuring the heroes-Ken Tubman, Bill Savilonis and Kent Beesley-to give to its retailers. The campaign spanned from September 2011 through August 2012 and included eight full-page ads in various trade publications. Some of the ads were later combined into a comic book. The heroes exploits were also featured in videos linked to the IPC webpage.
Seth Pemsler, the IPC's retail/international vice president, was traveling when reached for comment and didn't have access to the total cost of the promotion. But, he said it was in line with past marketing campaigns directed at reminding retailers of the resource they have in the promotion directors.
"I went into a major, major retailer. We go into the meeting room and he's sitting there with his super hero cup eating oatmeal. It was something he thought was fun enough, cool enough that it sits on his desk every day," Pemsler said. "That's the ideal world. If you walk into their office and one of the things you've provided is sitting on their desk, you've won."
IPC also won marketing awards for its foodservice and consumer campaigns.
SOURCE: John O'Connell, Capital Press
http://www.capitalpress.com/newsletter/JO-IPCHeroes-100812