Best Practices and Excellence in National Family Meals Month Programming
The Story of a Campaign that Turned into a Movement
The examples in this section represent National Family Meals Month™ programming examples over several years. As you will see, these partners—retailers, suppliers, and community collaborators— exhibit true excellence in the marketplace by leveraging social media, in-store communication, paid advertising, collaborations, employee engagement, FMI Foundation-provided marketing collateral, and implementing new and innovative ideas year after year. These organizations have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the importance of National Family Meals Month™ since its inception and to provide the motivation and tools to families to help them consume more meals at home.
Omnichannel Excellence
A common thread of Gold Plate Award winners and honorable mentions has been an integrated strategy to promoting their National Family Meals Month™ program. All of the following implementers excelled in using a combination of in-store activities, traditional and social media, advertising, web, email, collaborations, and more.
Giant Food Stores'
Giant Food Stores’ Power of One More Family Meal campaign utilized mass media to broadly distribute family meals messaging and inspire customers to return to the table for one more meal per week. Traditional media included the launch of a TV ad focused entirely on family meals, billboards ads, and a news release. Social media drove reach with weekly posts and recipe inspiration to help Giant Food Stores’ customers feel more confident about making more family meals. Money-saving offers, tips, recipes, and other resources were sent each week by in-home mailers. An article in local magazine Natural Awakenings spoke about the benefits of family meals to nourish both mind and body. In stores, dietitians offered individual consultations, cooking classes, store tours. and “wellness walks,” and more than 1500 associates brought the campaign to life with in-store displays on Quick ‘N Easy and Easy Does It meal deals. Dietitians connected with the community on the topic of family meals through events at schools, senior centers, workplaces, and community centers like the YMCA. The philanthropic leg of the campaign donated meals to families in need and employees volunteered at the Pennsylvania Food Bank.
Skogen's Festival Foods
Festival Foods’ 2017 $10 Meals campaign consisted of six main promotional facets as part of an omni-channel marketing campaign and reached customers, associates, and the communities they serve with solutions to achieve one more family meal at home each week. Their theme, $10 Meals, provided a consistent and cohesive messaging platform for their resources and in-store activities throughout the month. Website promotions included a recipe library, blog posts, and how-to cooking videos. The campaign was executed via traditional, as well as social, media featuring Festival Food dietitians. Renamed Mealtime Mentors, these dietitians shared mealtime solutions on Facebook Live and Instagram. Most uniquely, Skogen’s Festival Foods collaborated with the cast of “The Better Half” lifestyle TV show throughout the month of September to maximize the reach of their campaign messaging. They also partnered with healthcare systems and community groups and collaborated with industry partners and fellow National Family Meals Month™ participants American Heart Association and Fruits & Veggies – More Matters. Throughout the month, in-store associates and staff adopted the campaign and promoted National Family Meals Month™ on their own social media platforms. Lastly, Festival Foods used mobile texting to send National Family Meals Month™ blog articles to their subscribers.
In 2018, Festival Foods’ goal was kid engagement with Festival Family Meals: Kid-Approved Foods, centered on a YouTube “mini” series that featured real kids or “mini guests” enjoying food, family meals, and fun! This approach was based on research showing that more than 80 percent of kids ages 12–17 use YouTube, with two-thirds of kids on YouTube daily. The campaign utilized an omni-channel approach to promote the YouTube “mini” series and National Family Meals Month™ messaging with Facebook Live broadcasts, an Instagram campaign, blog posts, a press release, paid ads, email blasts, TV appearances with Festival Foods’ dietitians, radio ads, text campaigns, and in-store dietitian activations that included grocery store tours, $10 Meal challenges, and promotions on recipe ingredients. Festival Foods’ 2018 campaign was once again strengthened through partnerships: Campbell Soup Company, Hormel Foods Corporation, and General Mills, Inc. aided in the production of the YouTube “mini” series, and Y100 WNCY participated in a joint Facebook Live broadcast making a kid-friendly family meal. The campaign reached more than 2 million people.
Hy-Vee, Inc.
Hy-Vee, Inc. utilizes its resources to celebrate National Family Meals Month™ and surround families with encouragement and resources designed to incite action to attain one more meal together as a family per week. In 2017, the Hy-Vee team developed and distributed educational materials, in the form of print and video content, via TV, social media, website, email, in store, Seasons Magazine, and through outreach to the media. In store, Hy-Vee offered family cooking classes taught by its 228 dietitians nationwide and promoted their Simple Fix TM healthy meal prep program. They also offered easy pickup and delivery meal options, in which 36,698 children ate for free in September. Finally, Hy-Vee announced a major charity donation challenge to get families back around the dinner table, ultimately donating $100,000 to Meals from the Heartland, a nonprofit organization dedicated to feeding the hungry. In 2018, Hy-Vee continued to inspire and mobilize families back to the table with omni-channel excellence. From point-of-sale messaging, in-store dietitian activations, print advertisements, and an email campaign, to a press release featuring Hy-Vee’s president and CEO, social channels sharing simple dinnertime recipes taking 30 minutes or less, TV segments in eight cities, and collaborations with suppliers and community members, Hy-Vee covered all the bases. The philanthropic leg of the campaign continued with multiple food and monetary donations within the community including 370,000 homemade peanut butter sandwiches donated to Harvesters- The Community Food Network, 21,000 servings of multi-grain cereal given to the Food Bank of Heartland, and more than $10,000 in Mealtime Kit vouchers distributed at college and professional football tailgates while promoting National Family Meals Month™.
The Kroger Co.
Kroger's We’re in! Kroger Bringing Families Together for National Family Meals Month campaign was an omni-channel experience including both in-store and out-of-store activations to help bring families together at the dining table. Their website, www.inspiredgathering.com, served as a hub for resources related to National Family Meals Month™ and provided inspiration throughout September. Innovative ideas within Kroger© Inspired Gathering hub included family dinner conversation starters, clean-up tips, personalized placemats, and kid-friendly table setting guides. In store, Kroger featured meal solutions displays with samples, complimentary personal shopping services by Kroger’s Little Clinic dietitians, and overhead audio messages. Their dietitians leveraged social media to host a Twitter-chat that reaching thousands and a Facebook Live education series. One dietitian was featured in a Live TV Segment on WSMV Today Nashville discussing how to put together quick family meals utilizing Kroger’s in-store resources. Taking it a step further, Kroger solicited the support of The Little Clinic staff to talk to patients about the importance of family meals and to share an educational booklet with recipes and tips, bringing their campaign full-circle. More than one million shoppers were reached through the overall campaign.
Price Chopper Supermarkets
Price Chopper built upon its successful public-private partnership, Family Mealtimes Matter, to educate its shoppers and communities on the benefits of family meals, and advocate for families to pledge to have one more meal per week together. The campaign targeted both shoppers and teammates and marked the ninth year of collaboration between Price Chopper/Market 32 and Cornell Cooperative Extension/Eat Smart New York. Price Chopper expanded its partnership and collaboration in 2017 to include Pulses.org Half Cup Habit, focusing their campaign messaging on plant-based proteins and incorporating the USDA nutrition guidelines into educational resources. Price Chopper’s in-store campaign included a specific Store Outreach Day involving 36 Price Chopper stores. Featured were nutrition educators, hummus samples with coupons for PICS brand chickpeas, and radio scripts with National Family Meals Month ™ messaging. Throughout the month, Price Chopper highlighted in-store meal solutions utilizing the theme “Time Better Spent.” Omnichannel marketing included a specific landing page on their website, e-health newsletters, Facebook and Twitter posts, blogs and videos by dietitians, and traditional print media. Taking it a step further, PriceChopper’s campaign messaging was incorporated into their employee wellness program, Well@Work.
Coborn's, Inc.
Coborn's, Inc. celebrated National Family Meals Month™ through an omni-channel campaign featuring print and digital media, partnerships with distributors and local TV segments, innovative activities and promotions across all 33 stores, and the leadership of their in-house dietitians. National Family Meals Month™ messaging was featured in Coborn’s quarterly Eat Healthy, Shop Smart newsletter, in their Dietitian’s Digest emails, and in promotions for CobornsDelivers meal kits. Dietitians engaged with customers through in-store cooking demos utilizing their partnership with Smart Chicken for both ingredients and giveaways. Most uniquely, the dietitians held Wellness Wednesday classes at three home store locations and created a “Recipe Center” on Coborn© website featuring “Tasty” style cooking videos. In 2018, Coborn’s expanded their National Family Meals Month™ campaign to incorporate American Heart Association’s Healthy For Good ™ program, with AHA’s Eat Smart, Add Color, Move More, and Be Well messages. Coborn’s dietitians took their cooking classes and demonstrations to the next level by creating a cookbook Meals in Minutes, with featured recipes highlighted on social media, in an emailed newsletter, and in store with weekly ingredient markdowns. Dietitians engaged customers online through blog content featuring seven-day meal planners, Meals in Minutes recipes, and handouts on adding colors to your plate. Social Media engagement included weekly Coborn’s gift card giveaways, meal ideas, and Facebook Live broadcasted cooking demonstrations.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.’s campaign, Make More Meals Happen with Meal Solutions from Food City, included initiatives instore, online, on social media, in television, and print geared toward both shoppers and associates. In-store activities were conducted in all 134 stores and included digital signage and recipe booklets for customers. Additional information and supporting recipes were shared via their website, as well as through their blog and social media handles. Unique in-store offerings that were promoted with National Family Meals Month™ messaging included the Shortcuts program (washed and pre-cut produce) and Meals in Minutes (packets containing a protein and vegetable that can be prepared in the microwavable or oven-bake bags). Food City extended their reach into the community via several engagements throughout the month including presentations and cooking demonstrations at community centers, city festivals, and health fairs. The 2018 More Meals Together campaign continued its omni-channel excellence across 123 stores and through a variety of print and media advertisements. K-VA-T stepped up their community engagements with six different events that reached customers with National Family Meals Month™ messaging at shopping malls, community centers, a Best Buddies Walk at East Tennessee State University, and at the YMCA. National Family Meals Month™ was highlighted by Food City’s registered dietitian on six TV segments throughout September, as well as a radio interview, Facebook Live, and weekly newspaper articles in two different markets. Through a new collaboration with Produce for Better Health Foundation, Food City’s dietitian wrote an article for PBH’s Insider’s Viewpoints column.
Rosie Applications, Inc.
Rosie Applications, Inc., a mobile and webbased online grocery shopping platform, ran an omnichannel
marketing campaign with a number of its retailer partners to promote National Family Meals Month™ in September. The campaign promoted the long-term benefits of family meals and helped families make grocery shopping online easy. Rosie successfully recruited 11 of its independent grocer partners to participate in the campaign and reached families digitally via email, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as through earned media coverage in key industry publications. An interactive microsite informed visitors about FMI’s National Family Meals Month™ movement and the commitment by Rosie and its retail partners to making family meals easier.
Online and Media Excellence
Utilizing online and social channels to get the word out has been a popular and effective tactic among National Family Meals Month™ implementers. Nielsen data from 2018 demonstrated a doubling of the percentage of consumers exposed to the campaign. Close to half saw information via social media. In fact, digitally connecting with the audience may well be among the most effective communication tactics when it comes to taking action. Previous Nielsen data has demonstrated that 95% of those who saw the campaign on social media and/or email said that their consumption and/or shopping behaviors changed. Additionally, consumers who saw the campaign on social media were 41% more likely to say that they planned to eat together as a family more often. Further, these folks reported being 71% more likely to start meal planning and 50% more likely to purchase more meal solutions.
Traditional media engagement has also been widely used over the years. Media tactics were initiated by many retail partners, particularly in their local markets, and most frequently included radio and TV spots.
Wisdom Natural Brands'
Wisdom Natural Brands’ One Sweet Change campaign’s goal was to inspire and encourage families to spend quality time together during meals, putting away electronic gadgets and other distractions. SweetLeaf’s One Sweet Change video reminded people that family meals offer a time to connect, communicate, and have fun together.
Yogini, LLC
Yogini, LLC Slow Down and Savor campaign© goal was to encourage families to slow down & savor a meal together, to increase interaction with the Zen of Slow Cooking’s Facebook page, and to increase website followers on thezenofslowcooking.com. All Zen social media outlets promoted the campaign and linked it to the FMI Foundation© National Family Meals Month™. Posts included devotionals, yogini poses, and a special feature connecting National Daughters Day and National Family Meals Month™ by sharing pictures of moms preparing slow-cooked meals with their daughters. The Zen of slow cooking blog introduced new recipes that encouraged family time.
Produce for Better Health Foundation
Produce for Better Health Foundation’s Fruits and Veggies – More Matters Month: A Focus on Family Meals campaign fused the shared benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables and family meals through social and digital activations. Social media posts on PBH’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages highlighted campaign messages, and materials promoting the benefits of fruits, vegetables, and family meals were available on the PBH website. The campaign also featured a press release that announced the FMI-PBH partnership in several notable media outlets, reaching a potential of more than 6 million people. All promotional materials utilized the National Family Meals Month™ logo.
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company’s Helping Families Eat Together campaign utilized a brand partnership with Prego to design a visually appealing digital ad campaign titled Welcome to the Family that highlighted the importance of family meals even when family members are away at college. Further, content created for National Family Meals Month™ was posted on Campbell’s website and shared on their social media channels. Campbell’s also worked with fellow National Family Meals Month™ participant, Kroger, to feature branded recipes online.
Meijer Inc.
Meijer Inc.’s #FamilyFoodRockstar Photo Contest was a social-media-driven campaign to celebrate the rockstar in each family’s kitchen. Residents of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin participated in an online photo contest designed to recognize and reward those preparing nutritious and delicious meals for their family. Photos of families shopping, preparing, and cooking meals posted with the hashtag #FamilyFoodRockstar were entered for a chance to win a $100 Meijer gift card. This photo contest served as an extension of the Jump with Jill Live Tour presented by Meijer, an in-school rock-n-roll nutrition show.
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG)
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG’s) family meals campaign rallied all their brands together for National Family Meals Month™. Brands collaborated to publish educational content on social media pages and brand websites, including the use of the National Family Meals Month™ logo. Customers were encouraged to participate in a family meals photo contest with a chance to win a package of AWG brands’ products. Social media channels and brand websites featured National Family Meals Month™ messaging and graphics.
Martin's Super Markets
Martin's Super Markets created weekly themed meals with simple recipes that shoppers could create on a budget. Weekly live radio interviews, as well as pre-recorded spots airing multiple times per day during September, featured the in-store dietitian promoting the themed meals and discussing different aspects of the campaign. This outreach also served to feature a National Family Meal Champion Contest in partnership with the radio station in which they announced a winning family each week. Each of five families received a $100 gift card for their winning entry. The Eat Smart Be Well Facebook page featured contests run by dietitians to engage customers to participate in National Family Meals Month™ activities. Customers were encouraged to upload a photo of their “stacked pantry” showing their readiness to prepare a family meal, and to post a photo of a family meal creation.
IGA, Inc.
IGA, Inc. GA Cares About Family Meals campaign featured a new consumer homepage with headline/banner content, and all editorial content taking on the family meals theme with tips and tricks for easy meal solutions as well as a promotional “vlog” with the IGA registered dietitian discussing the benefits of family meals. IGA’s blog featured shopper solutions as well as content for retailers to share across their channels.
Wakefern Food Corp.
Wakefern Food Corp. produced Family Meal of the Week videos to feature and promote on ShopRite's web, email, and social media platforms. Coordinated printed recipes were also shared and ingredients were displayed in several ShopRite stores as one-stop meal solutions. Dietitians engaged customers to promote National Family Meals Month™ and the Family Meal of the Week program instore and via social media. In 2018, Wakefern incorporated the campaign into a mobile app with a featured link to more information on ShopRite’s Family meals campaign. Food Lion, LLC
Eggland’s Best
Eggland’s Best ran an advertisement in 2017 in the Los Angeles Times, entitled “Nutrientrich ingredients, simple prep are keys to easy, healthy family meal times” designed to capture the essence of National Family Meals Month™. It discussed the research pertaining to family meals and provided nutrition information and tips from a registered dietitian, as well as featuring two family meal recipes requiring less than 30 minutes to prepare. In 2018, the brand took their campaign to the next level through a partnership with the American Heart Association and a Families in the Kitchen YouTube video with actor Mario Lopez’s family making a meal together using Eggland’s Best eggs while discussing the importance of family meals as well as AHA’s mission. The video was catchy, entertaining, educational, and kid-friendly. Online, campaign messages and promotions were shared across both American Heart Association and Eggland’s Best© social media platforms and websites. Traditional media included a press release and a MAT Release featuring quotes from the chair of AHA’s Nutrition Committee and the president and CEO of Eggland’s Best. Cross-promotion across Eggland’s Best and AHA newsletters included co-branded recipes and tips. Associated Food Stores, Inc.
Associated Food Stores, Inc.’s National Family Meals Month™ campaign utilized a visual ad to inform customers online and through social media of the importance of family meals, encouraging customers to visit Associated Food Stores for family meals solutions.
American Heart Association
American Heart Association’s Healthy For Good: Eat Smart and Add Color campaign used National Family Meals Month™ messaging on several of their social media pages including Healthy for Good, Empowered to Serve, Power to End Stroke, and Go Red for Women, encouraging consumers to visit the National Family Meals Month™ landing page on the American Heart Association (AHA) website to explore resources and healthy recipes. AHA also published an e-newsletter article discussing National Family Meals Month™ with a link to their landing page, and posted the article on the Eat Smart and Add Color sections of their Healthy for Good website. In 2018, AHA partnered with several fellow National Family Meals Month™ campaigns to create collaborative content. Coborn’s and Eggland’s Best campaigns featured American Heart Association’s Healthy for Good™ messaging along with their family meals messaging. Co-branded content was created and shared across both AHA and Eggland’s Best media channels to call on families across America to take the Family Meals Pledge and commit to spending an additional “dozen” minutes around the table eating nutritious meals.
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company's Family Meals Program featured an online visual ad and article on their cokesolutions.com website quoting Coke senior leadership expressing support for family meals and calling on retailers to help inspire families to make more meals happen at home through September’s National Family Meals Month™ movement. In 2018, Coca-Cola expanded its campaign by placing its ad in Progressive Grocer to help engage the industry, retailers, and marketing leaders.
In-Store Excellence
Since 2017, we have continued to see shopper engagement in the store setting. Many retailers feature recipes via displays and/or meal solutions available in the fresh prepared section. Some utilize the expertise of their in-store dietitian and other staff. Targeted in-store engagement has proven to be an effective way to help shoppers at point-of-purchase in their quest to get healthy family meals on the table as each retail store, no matter how big or small, knows its customers and community best.
Martin's Super Markets
Martin's Super Markets The Flavorful Four campaign was a creative way to engage kids and families alike by making vegetable “superheroes” Captain Carrot, Extraordinary Eggplant, Brilliant Broccoli, and Peppy Pepper the face of their campaign. In store, the Flavorful Four were on promotion during September at a special price with graphics that tied in the National Family Meals Month logo. Catchy coupons featured the National Family Meals Month™ message alongside deals on meal components like ready-to-eat side dishes. In-store dietitian activations included cooking classes and store tours around the topic of family meals.
Albertsons Companies
Albertsons Companies' Kid-Approved Meals for the Whole Family campaign featured in-store recipe demonstrations designed specifically to engage kids. Registered dietitians hosted the demos, which took place across ten stores in six divisions promoting the benefits of family meals. In-store advertising included end-cap displays promoting kid-friendly recipes with health-focused ingredients, utilizing National Family Meals Month™ logo and messaging.
Brookshire Brothers
Brookshire Brothers’ #FamilyMealsMatter campaign featured catchy meal promotions that made it simpler for families to gather around the table for a meal. Themed “meal deals “included a taco night (Taco Bout Family), slow cooker recipes (Slow Cooker Shortcuts), readymade meals (Mom’s Night Off), and frozen pizzas (Round the Table).
Skogen’s Festival Foods
Skogen’s Festival Foods’ registered dietitians have become Mealtime Mentors, an in-store resource for their customers.
“Hopefully, many of you are familiar with our registered dietitians. They're not only experts in food and nutrition, but they can help support you in a variety of ways — from making delicious meals in 20 minutes to helping you transition to a new way of eating. They understand the importance of mealtime and how it can help you make healthier meals at home a reality. That's why we're calling them your Mealtime Mentors!”
The Kroger Co.
The Kroger Co. mastered their in-store presence by involving staff at numerous levels and engageing consumers where they are. Kroger’s in-store Little Clinic medical staff participated in the National Family Meals Month™ campaign by sparking conversations with their patients around family meals and providing educational brochures on National Family Meals Month™ at the end of patient appointments. In-store consumer experiences such as personal shopping with Little Clinic dietitians, meal solution displays, sampling tables, signage, and overhead audio messages brought Kroger’s National Family Meals Month™ campaign from the shopping cart to the table all month long.
Baesler’s Market
Baesler’s Market’s Make Meal Time Family Time campaign was promoted through their DinnerCall app and pre-packaged kitscontaining meal ingredients and a recipe card, available through their meat department. Complimentary weekly meal planner sheets were available throughout the store for customer use. The campaign featured in-store signage, cross marketing via the bakery, meat, deli, dairy departments, and floral departments as well as on the local news. The Green Table acted as a designated National Family Meals Month™ promotional space with oven mitts, utensils for sale, and recipe cards. Cashiers distributed “Raise your mitt to commit!” stickers at checkout.
Dorothy Lane Market, Inc.
Dorothy Lane Market leveraged FMI Foundation research, creative meal ideas, and dedicated their September Market Report, a 12-page publication sent to roughly 18,000 active Dorothy Lane Market Club Card members, to support National Family Meals Month™. They themed the issue The Power of Dinner to emphasize the value of families coming together during meals. Instore, Dorothy Lane Market created What's for Dinner displays aimed at inspiring their community to gather around the dinner table more often and providing suggestions to help busy families do so more easily. Each week, they featured a new recipe “hack,” displaying all the products necessary to prepare the dish in the front lobby of each store and sampled the item one evening per week. Dorothy Lane Market noted increase in sales among those products featured.
Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford Supermarkets’s 2016 campaign targeted families who want to be healthy but struggle with tight budgets and busy schedules. They named the initiative Good Ideas for Busy Families, building upon their existing Guiding Stars Good Ideas program which offers simple recipe ideas for healthy meals and snacks with ingredients that earn 1, 2, or 3 Guiding Stars. Elements of the program included end-cap and off-shelf signage featuring family-friendly and healthful recipe ideas and special product pricing. They created a Good Ideas for Busy Families booklet, as well as a Store Tour Guide Book. These resources are used by families, as well as school, 4-H and scout groups, among others, and were designed to contain kid- and family-friendly recipes, games, and tips. Materials for the program were developed with a whimsical feel to capture the spirit of back-to-school season. In 2017, Hannaford built upon its 2016 program with the new theme Time Saving Meals from Your Hannaford Dietitian featuring a Dinner Deconstructed campaign, dietitian held in-store demos, and signage pointing out Time Saving Meals placed appropriately throughout the store.
Wakefern Food Corp.
Wakefern Food Corp. promoted National Family Meals Month™ in the ShopRite Store of Lyndhurst with National Family Meals Month messaging, overhead announcements, and interactive events. They held special dietitian classes and meal sampling and also featured a new recipe card with associated ingredients each week. The team cut and prepacked produce to decrease the burden on the customer in preparing the healthy recipe at home. The 2018 campaign was expanded within the Wakefern family and debuted a Limited Edition National Family Meals Month Meal Kit offered at a $2 markdown from other meal kits. Merchandizing end caps featured themed meal ideas like Better For You Tacos and Better For You Baking.
Collaboration Excellence
Another common theme in excellence when executing National Family Meals Month™ has been to join forces with others to develop and/or promote the program collaboratively. The FMI Foundation has seen two distinct, but equally successful, types of collaborations: 1) Implementers partnering with distributors or other national organizations; and 2) Implementers partnering with organizations in their respective communities.
Tops Friendly Markets
Tops Friendly Markets’ #FamilyMealsMonth 2017 campaign featured a partnership with Smithfield to produce a community-focused Raise Your Mitt to Commit video featured on Tops’ Facebook page. With every Facebook engagement (“share”) of the video, Tops provided one meal to a local Food Bank. Partners included Food Bank of WNY, Food Bank of Central New York, and Foodlink. Tops’ 2018 campaign was also strengthened by its collaborations on a very personal level. A local family of three supported the campaign by sharing their own experience via Instagram, blog posts, and weekly giveaways, showing fellow customers the benefits of sharing more family meals together and how Tops makes doing so more achievable. Finally, Tops partnered with Campbell’s Chunky Soup to donate 20,000 cans of Campbell© soup to a local food bank.
Albertsons Companies
Albertsons Companies partnered with O Organics to supply ingredients for 40 recipe demonstrations in ten stores across six divisions during their Kid-Approved Meals for the Whole Family campaign.
McAirlaid's, Inc.
McAirlaid’s Spreading the Word campaign set out to remind their supplier partner Bunzl about the opportunity to engage in National Family Meals Month™ by sending Raise Your Mitt to Commit oven mitts to 22 Bunzl team members at 21 unique locations.
Eggland's Best
Eggland's Best’s 2018 campaign, The Eggland’s Best Family Meals Pledge, featured partnership with the American Heart Association Healthy For Good™ movement. Together, they called on families across America to take the Family Meals Pledge and commit to spending an additional “dozen” minutes around the table eating nutritious meals. Co-branded content included recipes, tips, and an excellent YouTube video with actor Mario Lopez’s family making a meal together. Content was shared across both AHA and Eggland’s Best digital and social media channels.
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company’s Family Meals for Healthier, More Successful, Safer Kids campaign is celebrated for its excellence in combining missions with WIC. Kellogg’s mission of “Nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive” joined forces with WIC’s mission to “safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care” to share the National Family Meals Month™ message. This WIC-focused family meals campaign featured strong messaging on the benefits of family meals, the state of family meals in the U.S., and how to use WIC foods (cereals, beans, canned fish, and yogurt) to make affordable, delicious meals that bring families together. Kellogg created a set of 15 recipes utilizing WIC foods, and these were promoted on WIChealth.org websites, instore with retail partners Vons, Stater Bros., and SpartanNash, and in more than 280 WIC clinics. On a corporate level, Education Kellogg’s created a National Family Meals Month™ lesson for WIC families that was presented to more than 700 WIC staff and to the leadership of Southern California agencies. The presentation was even translated into Spanish by California stakeholders. Other materials created included Cooking Hack sheets for each of four WIC foods, a meal planning sheet, a poster with space for WIC clinics to post recipes.
Hy-Vee Inc.
Hy-Vee Inc.’s National Family Meals Month™ campaign involves significant collaboration and outreach with partners at both the national and community level. In the past, Hy-Vee has reached out to more than 40 of their manufacturing vendors, including Frito-Lay, Kraft, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Kimberly Clark. They also contacted all congressional and governors’ offices in their eight-state region, and engaged more than 50 of the largest school districts to ask for assistance in promoting their National Family Meals Month™ messaging and #HyVeeFamilyMeals social media campaign. Hy-Vee’s 228 dietitians also targeted local schools, mom groups, PTOs, church groups, as well as businesses in their respective areas with newsletter articles about National Family Meals Month™ and participated in local events. Hy-Vee’s 2017 campaign included a large donation to Meals From the Heartland (a nonprofit dedicated to feeding the hungry). Now a campaign tradition, actor Mark Wahlberg shared his thoughts on the importance of family meals through Hy-Vee’s social media outlets.
Skogen’s Festival Foods
Skogen’s Festival Foods partnered with a wide variety of national and local vendors to extend the reach of the Festival Family Meals: $10 Meals program. These included Unilever, Dole, Musselman’s, Florida’s Natural, and Kretschmar, and were designed share ideas to make family meals more attainable utilizing these products. They also collaborated with community groups, including United Way’s weight-management initiative, and cast from “The Better Half” lifestyle TV show to promote National Family Meals Month™ and provide simple and relatable solutions to achieve more family meals at home each week. With their 2018 campaign focused heavily on a YouTube “mini” series, Festival Foods once again leaned on partnerships with suppliers and community members to maximize their campaign reach.
Unilever
Unilever’s Make Meals That Do Good campaign set out to help more than 1 billion people around the world take action to improve their health and well-being. Unilever did this in large part by collaborating with partners and communities across the nation. Their partnership with the New York City mayor’s office and a network of NGOs improved access to fresh food and nutrition education throughout low-income communities. Their partnerships with retailers Wakefern, HEB, and Safeway provided store-level programs highlighting a sustainable nutrition vision with recipes that gave consumers new ways to use Unilever products.
Price Chopper Supermarkets
Price Chopper Supermarkets’ Family Mealtimes Matter campaign has utilized their long-standing partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension/Eat Smart New York and the Times Union news organization to promote healthy eating. In 2016, they expanded their collaboration with both New York state partners to target SNAP participants, as well as include new regions and publishing channels. In 2017, their overall theme Family Meals Matter continued, with a special focus on plant-based proteins featuring a partnership with Pulses.org Half Cub Habit.
The Campbell Soup Company
The Campbell Soup Company supported retailer efforts throughout National Family Meals Month™. One example included collaborating with Wakefern to support their Family Meal of the Week program. In 2017, their campaign grew to include a promotion of Pace salsas and collaboration with Kroger. They also expanded their reach to include collaborations with Consumer Test Kitchens and Retail Dietitians Business Alliance to provide consumers with weekly solutions to common barriers to family meals. In 2018, Campbell’s extended their National Family Meals Month™ partnerships by helping Target Media Network to pioneer a Run & Done campaign focusing around family dinner during the fall drive period, with Albertsons to promote simple family meals through an omnichannel campaign, and with Walmart to inspire shoppers via a 3-step easy family meal solution from Prego.
Merchants Distributors Inc.
Merchants Distributors Inc. partnered with Acosta to create a Taco Night meal solution event for families across 350+ retailers and multiple states along the East Coast. The goal was to provide an occasion and reason for families to come together and enjoy not only a great meal but each other. Taco Night was promoted with print ads, digital coupons, social media, digital web banners, and in-store displays across multiple store chains. Taco Night also inspired other themed events including Italian Nights and Gather Around the Table. By utilizing brands such as Mission, Pace, Swanson, Borden, Sargento, Bush’s, Fresh Express, and Furmano’s, retailers had the opportunity to get creative with their displays, in-store signage, and overall execution. Big Y Foods, Inc.
Employee Engagement Excellence
FMI and the FMI Foundation makes it a priority each year during National Family Meals Month™ to promote family meals to all FMI employees as an organizational value, in addition to a societal practice. Every week in September, the FMI Foundation engages employees with fun activities (e.g., National Family Meals Month™ celebration pot-luck lunch featuring personal family favorite recipes, family meals photo contest,) and weekly desk drops of National Family Meals Month™-branded merchandise (e.g., grocery bags, buttons, timers, etc.). As a result, the FMI staff become advocates of the campaign. In fact, for a corporate pumpkin carving contest, FMI staff carved a National Family Meals Month™ themed pumpkin as the FMI entry to the contest.
“We knew we had an important message and movement. What was so amazing is how our FMI employees took such great pride in representing National Family Meals Month™ and it brought to life our FMI purpose statement of assisting retailers in their noble role of “Feeding Families and Enriching Lives.” Susan Borra, RD chief health and wellness officer and executive director of the FMI Foundation
The Kraft Heinz Company
The Kraft Heinz Company’s Kraft Heinz Celebrates National Family Meals Month™ campaign was a largely internal campaign, focused on encouraging employees to make healthier food choices and engage in more family meals. The campaign was promoted through internal TV ads, social media posts, zone president’s nationwide monthly newsletter, internal email campaigns, contests, and an internal app. Everyone from factory and plant workers to brand marketing teams and various members of corporate leadership fostered the spirit of National Family Meals Month™ by sharing how they celebrate meals within their own families. Employees also took part in discussions on how Kraft Heinz brands and foods continually encourage parents to spend more time in the kitchen and at the dinner table with their kids.
Hy-Vee, Inc.
Hy-Vee, Inc. shared the National Family Meals Month™ campaign electronically with more than 84,000 employees and engaged staff with success stories via their intranet site during the month of September.
Dorothy Lane Market
Dorothy Lane Market used storytelling to emphasize the value that people within their organization place on family meals. They encouraged employees to share pictures of their families around the table together and Dorothy Lane Market promoted these photos on social media. They also featured an employee’s story about the importance of regularly engaging in dinnertime with her family printed in The Power of Dinner report.
“Our Sunday dinners remain an ongoing circle, sharing the love of family, friends, and food each week.”
Rosie Applications, Inc.
Rosie Applications, Inc. believes in the value of family meals and promotes this belief to its employees with efforts to encourage implementation of these meals. All Rosie employees enjoy free pickup or delivery with every order. The senior
management team shares weekly family meals together and all Rosie employees are encouraged to share family meals with each other as often as possible. They captured employees “raising their mitts to commit” and circulated the picture on
social media to demonstrate support for National Family Meals Month™.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. Food City’s omni-channel promotion of National Family Meals Month™ highlighted the benefits of family meals internally for associates at their corporate center and in stores including consultations with their Healthy Initiatives team.
SpartanNash Company
SpartanNash Company engaged a group of in-store employees in the production of a video, discussing their personal favorite aspects of sharing meals as a family, as well as their favorite family dishes. The 2018 campaign included National Family Meals Month™-themed shirts worn by in-store associates, and continued internal engagement by incorporating the campaign into their associate wellness program ChooseWell LiveWell over email, intranet, and electronic communication boards.
Baesler's Market
Baesler’s Market produced a video showcasing their in-store associates discussing why family meals are important to them. The video was then leveraged in their social media campaign to encourage consumers to Raise Their Mitt to Commit to more family meals.
Price Chopper Supermarkets
Price Chopper Supermarkets incorporated their National Family Meals Month™ messaging into their corporate wellness program Well@Work.
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG)
AWG utilized company TVs to educate employees internally about the benefits of sharing meals together as a family.
Program Evaluation Excellence
As captured throughout this document, the FMI Foundation has observed an incredible amount of quality programming associated with the promotion of National Family Meals Month™. Along with the development and execution of comprehensive, integrated programs, there has also been a distinct excellence in the way that many companies measure the reach and impact of their promotions and activities.
Collecting, analyzing, and sharing metrics associated with National Family Meals Month™ programming has been a common thread among Gold Plate Award winners and honorable mentions. The value of measurement is three-fold. It allows:
Implementers to evaluate the benefit of their various tactics to their customers and employees and their return on investment.
Monitoring on which tactics are most and least effective to inform future programming.
FMI to formulate and tell the broader story of the adoption, growth, and proliferation of the National Family Meals Month™ movement
Giant Food Stores
Giant Food Stores’ Power of One More Family Meal campaign utilized mass media to reach more than 65 million people, with the philanthropic leg of the campaign donating the equivalent of more than 17 million meals to families in need, and employees logging 350 volunteer hours for Hunger Action Month at the Pennsylvania Food Bank.
Skogen’s Festival Foods
Skogen’s Festival Foods measured and reported web sessions, ad impressions, click-throughs, and social media engagement to the minute detail as measures of campaign implementation. They also compared sales for the Dine at Home Deli items during the weeks of demonstration versus weeks without and captured a 182% increase, demonstrating the value of the Dine at Home Deli sampling events in helping families get meals on the table. The 2018 campaign’s YouTube “mini” series had more than 2 million impressions, demonstrating success in reaching their “mini” audience. Their mobile texting campaign reached 75k+ customers with National Family Meals Month™ messaging.
Campbell Soup Company
The Campbell Soup Company’s 2018 campaign partnerships drove increased sales. A partnership with all Albertson’s divisions promoting simple family meals saw a 9% increase in dollar sales and 19% increase in unit volume. A partnership with Walmart on a 3-step easy family meal solution resulted in an 8% sales lift and an increased percentage of new buyers to the brand.
Ahold Delhaize USA
Ahold Delhaize USA asked stores to build a display around a specific family recipe and measured the sales increase of the products included. In just one week, they saw an overall increase of 81% in sales for these products among all stores.
Merchant’s Distributors Inc.
Merchant’s Distributors Inc. experienced promising preliminary results among all retailer outlets participating in their themed meal events with shipments that exceeded 32% growth with the participating brands in the month of September. Retailer sales increases over the prior year ranged from 19% to 91%. Brand sales increases ranged from 51% to 173%.
Dorothy Lane Market, Inc.
Dorothy Lane Market reported an average sales increase of 94% on particular items featured in Recipe Hack demos on Monday nights in September.
Coborn’s, Inc.
Coborn’s newly innovated To The Table and Kids Lunch CobornsDelivers meal kits, created with National Family Meals Month™ in mind, experienced close to 900 sales. Of those 900 kits, 650 of them contained the “dietitian approved” seal. In 2018, specific ingredients in featured recipes saw an increase in sales. Lean ground beef was up 30.96% over the prior year and a 17.8% over the prior month. No salt added canned tomatoes and whole wheat pasta were up 41.98% and 11.2% from the prior month, respectively.
Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford reported 39,262 total engagements through their National Family Meals Month™ social media campaign, and 20,000 face-to-face impressions through their in-store dietitian demos.
Innovation Excellence
Several partners have employed technology to reach consumers where they are—on their devices. They have also created technological solutions to help bring healthy eating to life and help families implement family meals.
Ahold Delhaize USA
Ahold Delhaize USA shared recipes, tips, and other resources to encourage and promote family meals via their Savory magazine and launched the accompanying Savory Cooking app in September to commemorate National Family Meals Month™. The idea of learning to cook via the app was well-received by kids and parents as they enjoyed the hands-free and voice-activated features that kept their tablet clean, as well as the quality time cooking with the family.
Baesler’s Market
Baesler’s Market strived to make it possible for more of their customers to sit down to a family meal in the midst of work, school, and extracurricular activities. One innovative way in which they encouraged family mealtime was through an app called DinnerCall. Customers order and pay for dinner via the app. The deli supplies everything they need to go home and have dinner ready on the table.
Martin’s Super Markets, Inc.
Martin’s Super Markets promoted family meals via a sleek and colorful online e-magazine, Eat Smart Be Well. This online magazine features recipes, photos, numerous options for family meals, seasonal and topical tips, and fun and educational activities for kids
American Heart Association
American Heart Association utilized their social channels to link consumers with their website’s virtual recipe box, encouraging consumers to create their own recipe box account to start saving healthy meals to create and enjoy as a family during National Family Meals Month™.
Coborn's, Inc.
Coborn’s expanded their existing CobornsDelivers online delivery program to include new, innovative categories with National Family Meals Month™ in mind: To the Table Meal Kits and Kids Lunch Kits.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. National Family Meals Month™ campaign featured the launch of an innovative Ready, Set, Cook online program where ingredients for featured recipes can be added to your shopping cart with one click, breaking down barriers to family meals.
The Kroger Co.
The Kroger Co. incorporated the National Family Meals Month™ philosophy into its operating practices at The Little Clinic to spark a conversation between respected healthcare workers and families regarding the importance of family meals. Akin to
a pediatrician asking “Do you wear a seatbelt?” clinic providers embodied the spirit of the National Family Meals Month™ campaign by asking each visiting patient, “Do you eat family meals at home?” Upon completion of
the visit, they sent patients away with a booklet to help implement family meals in their home.
Kroger's Little Clinic dietitians also hosted a Twitter chat focused on National Family Meals Month™ that resulted in an above-average
rate of engagements.
Unilever
Unilever created an online and mobile app game crafted to drive shopper education, which in turn helped leverage Unilever’s Make Meals That Do More campaign.
There also were programs that stood out as just plain unique and innovative ways to celebrate National Family Meals Month™.
Community Excellence
As National Family Meals Month™ grows and evolves, a new category has emerged with new community collaborations and existing partners branching out further into their communities to engage with their audiences to:
Complement their mission and current programming;
Engage their audience in new ways; and
Spread the word of the benefits of family meals to their employees and their communities.
Wakefern Food Corp.
Wakefern Food Corp.’s National Family Meals Month at ShopRite campaign was notable for its community impact. Five hundred free National Family Meals Month™-themed meals were distributed to Partners in Caring Hunger Initiative, and two separate events adopted a broad approach to “family” meals. An event with college students spoke about “family” meals while away at school, and a volunteer day at the local soup kitchen spoke to community members about the benefits of eating together.
Hy-Vee, Inc.
Hy-Vee, Inc.’s recognized National Family Meals Month™ in 2017 by announcing a major charity donation challenge to get families back around the dinner table. For every family who posted a photo of themselves eating a meal together on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #HyVeeFamilyMeals and/or each share or retweet of Hy-Vee’s social media posts about National Family Meals Month™, Hy-Vee committed to donate $1 to Meals from the Heartland. At the conclusion of the promotion, Hy-Vee achieved the maximum donation of $100,000. In 2018, Hy-Vee continued its philanthropic focus during National Family Meals Month™ through a variety of partnerships and community activations. In partnership with Hormel, 370,000 homemade peanut butter sandwiches were donated to Harvesters – a Community Food Network. Sandwich packs contained recipe cards that also promoted the benefits of family meals. In partnership with The Soulfull Project, more than 21,000 servings of multi-grain cereal were distributed to the Food Bank of Heartland through an event that was inspired by National Family Meals Month. In partnership with beef counsels in their 8-state region, Hy-Vee dietitians distributed more than $10,000 in Mealtime Kit vouchers at college and professional football tailgates while promoting National Family Meals Month.
Yogini, LLC
Yogini’s Slow Down & Savor campaign excelled at community-engagement, and really adopted the broad definition of “family.” The National Family Meals Month™ campaign was incorporated into a Zen in Action event with a “family” of ovarian cancer survivors, at a “Zensational Tailgate,” and at an on-site cooking class at Harvest Market. Yogini, LLC co-Founder kicked off the campaign by “raising a mitt to commit” while sampling Zen blends at a local historic organic farm and concluded with an Instant Pot giveaway.
Beat The Rush Delivery
Beat The Rush Delivery, a grocery delivery service, launched the Cambridge Community Supper campaign in 2017 by joining hands with DinnerTime, a meal planning service. The campaign gathered the Cambridge, Maryland community for a “family” meal in the spirit of National Family Meals Month™. The participation of Cambridge Family Church and Harvest Hope Youth and Family Wellness helped increase event attendance in 2018 to 500 community members, compared to 80 in attendance in 2017.
Giant Food Stores
Giant Food Stores’ dietitians visited schools, senior centers, workplaces, government offices, and community events throughout the month of September with easy meal solutions and tips on how to eat healthy on a budget. In 2018, Giant Food Stores announced the launch of its newest brand, GIANT Heirloom Market, born to provide fresh, better-for-you food choices, ingredients and meal options to the underserved Philadelphia community. Through this initiative, 1.5 million potential new customers will be provided access to meal solutions.
Meijer, Inc.
Meijer, Inc. built beyond previous social media activations with the Jump with Jill program, taking their campaign into schools in coordination with the Jump with Jill Live Tour. Customized recipe cards featuring the campaign and a Produce for Kids recipe were distributed to 10,000 students across three states.
Kellogg Company
Kellogg’s WIC-focused family meals campaign featured information on how to use WIC foods (cereals, beans, canned fish, and yogurt) to make affordable, delicious meals that bring families together.
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.
K-VA-T’s 2018 More Meals Together campaign stepped up their community engagements with six different events that reached customers with National Family Meals Month™ messaging. A Food City dietitian ran a Build a Healthy Meal table at Kingsport Mall, a Cook Once, Eat Twice table at a community center in Johnson City, and an Eat More Meals Together table at a wellness center in Johnson City. Employees also ran tables on healthy meals at a Buddy Walk to promote Down Syndrome awareness at East Tennessee State University, a Rhythm & Roots Festival Kids Day in Bristol, and a YMCA Kids Day in Chattanooga.
Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford incorporated National Family Meals Month™ messaging and signage into their existing in-store Guiding Stars wellness grading system, making it simple for families to make healthy choices while eating one more meal together per week. Printed recipes featured ingredients by picture to make shopping for recipe ingredients more timely and seamless.
W. Lee Flowers and Co., Inc.
W. Lee Flowers and Co.'s "IGA Raise Your Mitt to Commit to Family Meals Photo Contest" campaign encouraged customers to submit family pictures cooking or eating together to either the IGA website or the IGA Facebook page for a chance to win a $40-$250 store gift card. Through this campaign, W. Lee Flowers was able to foster a stronger relationship with their community, while raising awareness of the benefits of family meals.
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