West Australian-based meat pie brand Mrs Mac’s is out to challenge the negative perceptions about the good ol’ Aussie meat pie with its latest advertising campaign.
Mrs Mac’s is encouraging consumers to think of its products not as fast food but as slow food, something eaten best in moderation and in a family environment.
The Slow Food campaign, created by Perth agency Cooch Creative, includes press and outdoor, and launched last week in Australia and New Zealand.
“We advised Mrs Mac’s that they needed to move themselves out of the fast food category by creating their own and start talking to the mothers of our future prospects,” Ron Samuel, director of Cooch Creative, said.
“The campaign is a simple reminder that, with a balanced lifestyle, you can enjoy the things you like. It is a big departure from what we would normally recommend for its primary blue collar target market.”
Samuel said Mrs Mac’s has strong brand loyalty with customers, but meat pies have been “demonised in the fast food category and blamed for contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemic among young children”.
“When we looked at the facts, we found that more pies were consumed, more often, 20 years ago than they are today and these conditions were rare,” he said.
“It’s the lifestyles that have changed radically.”
Samuel admits Mrs Mac’s change in marketing strategy is a risk, but said it is a calculated one and the only way the company can really defend itself.
“Mrs Mac’s has always been a responsible brand with good values,” he said.
“It’s a credibility issue for us as well. If you don’t talk to your future customers you’ll lose them.”
A central part of the new ad campaign is a website called slowfoods.com.au, which will be launched in September and feature information on the nutrition of meat pies and how they’re made.
Samuel said the website is a long-term investment for
Mrs Mac’s and not dependant on the current advertising campaign. He said the site was not like McDonald’s website makeupyourownmind.com.au.
According to Nielsen Media Research figures, $500,000 was spent on main media advertising for Mrs Mac’s in the year to April 2007. It is believed the current campaign will cost more than $1 million in the first three months alone.
The market leader in the Australian meat pie sector is Patties Foods brand Four’n Twenty, which spent $2 million on main media in the 12 months to April.
Last month, Four’n Twenty launched its Hungry Man Pie, reportedly 60% larger than the standard pie.
Paul Byham, brand manager for Four’n Twenty, said the brand had responded to criticism of meat pies by introducing healthier options. In the past two years it had created the Four’n Twenty Lite Pie and the heart tick-approved Traveller Pie.
Byham said it is not unfair to lump meat pies into the fast food category, predicting the majority of growth in the meat pie market will come from people consuming them “more on the go” and in time-poor environments.
Cooch’s Samuel said some of the stigma associated with meat pies has come from the fact there has been “little regulation on what meat is in a meat pie”, but the “Mrs Mac’s guys are trying to change that”.
“To date there’s been no answer from the industry,” he said.
“This [Slow Food campaign] will put individual brands under the microscope. That’s a good thing for consumers to know.”
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