Nowadays, we are bombarded by advertisements hundreds of times every day. From the radio stations we listen to, the magazines we read, the TV shows we watch and even as we browse our social media feeds, companies are constantly vying for your attention.

When it comes to food ads, fast food giants are very good at showcasing their products, and research has shown that despite knowing the dangers, many consumers will cave and purchase a burger after seeing an advert. What about healthy food providers, though? In this article, we are going to look at six brands who are smashing the advertising game.

Organic Valley Fuel – Save the bro’s campaign

This Organic Valley Fuel advert proved incredibly popular when it was launched in 2015, gaining over four million views since then. The tongue-in-cheek advert looks at the stereotypical, muscled, gym-going ‘Bro’ and highlights that dangers of protein shakes – stating that continuing at the current rate could lead to a “total bro colony collapse”.

The humorous video is a great example of how to think differently when it comes to advertising and is a sure-fire way to get your brand going viral. Accompanying the launch was a special promotion to get a ‘Buy-One-Bro-One’ coupon for a free product to share with your bro!

Whole Foods – Values matter campaign

https://youtu.be/6Uj_FCY_qyM

Successful advertising does not have to be humorous to cut through the noise though, as the Whole Foods “Values Matter” campaign shows. Although known for their organic food, Whole Foods image began to slip as more competitors entered the market with cheaper options.

To combat this and restore consumer faith, the campaign showcases what makes the company different and their products of superior quality. With 22 separate ads, uploaded over the period of a week, they show how Whole Foods produce is grown and its sustainability.

Disfigured food campaign

To stop the waste of food deemed too ‘ugly’ to appear in grocery stores, French supermarket brand Intermarché created an innovative campaign in 2014 that saw them selling oddly shaped fruits and vegetables for 30% cheaper than ‘normal’ looking versions.

This campaign saw an amazing 1.2 tonnes sold in-store on average in the first two days and saw many copycat campaigns launched across the globe!

Halo Top adults campaign

Another great example of humorous advertising, the “Ice Cream for Adults” campaign by Halo Top was designed to parody the everyday challenges adults face with the simple life of children visiting the ice cream truck.

The dark comedy was a big success for the Los Angeles brand, who had even roped in then-candidate of The Bachelor, Nick Viall, to poke fun at this luckless hunt for love.

Wholly Guacamole trick avocados campaign

Avocados have been the in-food for a number of years, but with 38% of Americans unable to make guacamole due to an unripe avocado, and 70% throwing away an avocado that was unusable, Wholly Guacamole decided to take the guesswork away from eating avocados.

The animated campaign encouraged consumers to utilise the brand’s ready-to-serve products straight from the fridge.

Kind TikTok campaign

https://www.tiktok.com/@kindsnacks/video/6750614307312094469

The rise of TikTok has been incredible, but healthy food brands were slow to adapt their strategies to include the platform – until Kind Healthy Snacks used it to launch their new Simple Crunch bars. The innovative campaign played on the platform’s use of noise, to get customers to share videos using their unique clip.

To encourage participants, the person whose video received the most views would receive a year supply of Simple Crunch bars as well as a trip to New York for two people! To maximise initial reach, Kind Healthy Snacks partnered with some of the leading TikTok stars, proving that successful marketing requires thinking outside of the box.

Final thoughts

Although fast food advertising might be everywhere, these examples of just six recent campaigns that prove healthy eating ads can be just as impactful. Each of these examples has used innovative methods to cut through the noise and get viewers watching their adverts, from breaking new ground by utilising TikTok to creating humorous clips designed to be shared.

With so many brands fighting for limited space on people’s newsfeeds, it has never been more important to get creative with your advertising, so if you want to go viral with your ads, start thinking outside the box!

 

Tina Mu is a Marketing consultant at Tribalism & Founder of Melbourne Moments. She’s passionate about growing businesses using digital marketing.