Corporate Brand and Public Relations

What is Kraft's brand image?

Kraft promotes it's brand image as fighting hunger and promoting healthy lifestyles across the world. Kraft cares a lot about the communities that they are a part of, and therefore continually looks for opportunities to give back on a global scale.

How does Kraft help?

Kraft provides to its communities through food donations, cash donations, and volunteer work. Over the past 25 years, Kraft has donated more than $770 million dollars in food and cash donations. More recently, Kraft pledged $180 million over the next three years with the goal of providing nutrition and educating children and families. Kraft donates approximately $100 million annually to nonprofit organizations. Kraft also volunteers with non-profit organizations such as Feeding America.

How Kraft's public relations enhances their brand image..

This past February, Kraft enhanced their brand and identity through their tagline and logo. The tagline says "Make today delicious." Kraft's public relations practitioners took the company's popular logo and made it more appealing by making it more friendly and relatable. Kraft's new logo features a red line which is supposed to symbolize a smile. At the end of the smile, a burst of colors shoot out at the end. This change was a public relations attempt to make Kraft's mission more recognizable to its customers.

This is what Kraft had to say about it:

"With a new purpose and values setting a fresh direction, Kraft Foods also gave its brand logo a face-lift to more clearly deliver "delicious." Starting today, people around the world will begin to see the new identity that deliciously features a smile, the natural reaction to delicious foods and experience, and a colorful flavor burst. It signals to employees, customers, and investors what the new Kraft Foods are all about."


Kraft's redesign.
Some of the positive aspects of Kraft's redesign:

• The logo which previously used all capital letters have been replaced using all lowercase letters.
• The red line is supposed to symbolize a smile.
  
• The red smile bursts into seven unique colors.
• The different colors are supposed to represent the different divisions within the company working together.
  
• The logo features the tagline: "make a delicious difference."

Some of the negative aspects of Kraft's redesign:

• The logo is very busy in comparison to Kraft's previous one.
• The red smile is similar to Yoplait's logo.
  

Corporate logo or brand logo?

In one of the articles that I read, it said that Kraft will be using this logo as their brand logo. It went on to say that Kraft will still be using their existing logo but strictly on Kraft products. Kraft seems to think that this will be a good way to differentiate the classic Kraft products amongst the other Kraft branded products.

What is Kraft trying to convey?

Kraft is trying to convey how much they are concerned about their customers. They are trying to represent their caring nature through the smile. The phrase "make a delicious difference" is supposed to illustrate how Kraft wants to make a delicious difference by helping individuals in fighting hunger and promoting healthy lifestyles.

What PR campaigns have enhanced Kraft's image?

In a previous blog, I touched upon Kraft's first global event, Make a Delicious Difference Week. This event has helped Kraft enhance their image. Before the event, I was unaware that Kraft's brand focused on wanting to help their customers by promoting nutritious meals and healthy lifestyles; I only knew Kraft as the manufacturer of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I believe that Kraft's Make a Delicious Difference Week has improved their brand image in the minds of consumers.

Kraft's Make a Delicious Difference Week has been Kraft's first public relations campaign that shows consumers the values behind the company. Kraft has done a wonderful job, and I am excited to see what other ideas and campaigns Kraft's public relations department will come up with in the future.

Keep up the fantastic work Kraft!

How Kraft reacts to a crisis

Corporate Crisis

One of the crises that Kraft has had to deal with over the years was a salmonella outbreak. In March of 2009, Kraft found several traces of salmonella during a routine product check in its California plant.

What exactly happened?

Inspectors that visited Kraft's California plant said that the plant was not separating roasted pistachios from the incoming flow of raw nuts. Raw pistachios carry pathogens that are killed during the roasting process. The reason that this posed a problem was because the roasted nuts were being re-exposed to the harmful bacteria.

How did Kraft's public relations practitioners handle this?

The first group that Kraft alerted was the Food and Drug Administration. Kraft then looked to all of it's brands and products to see which ones contained peanuts or peanut butter. One of the first products that Kraft recalled was its pistachios. Kraft recalled over one million pounds of roasted pistachios as a safety precaution. The FDA also found traces of salmonella in some Baker's Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares, so Kraft recalled that product as well.

Aside from the recalls, Kraft did a great job with making statements such as how they were investigating the situation. Kraft made sure that they let the public know that they were concerned with the situation and that they were working on fixing it.

The Four "R's" of Crisis Management

Regret: telling the public you're sorry that a situation has happened.

• Kraft told the public that they were concerned with the situation, and that they were looking into the details.
  
• SUCCESS.
  

Reform: letting the press/public know what steps you're taking to ensure that this problem won't occur again.

• Kraft did not tell the press or the public whether or not they would be fixing the way that the pistachios are handled.
• FAILURE.
  

Restitution: letting the public know how affected individuals will be compensated.

• Kraft did not make a statement about whether or not there would be compensation for individuals who were affected.
• FAILURE.
  

Responsibility: taking responsibility for solving the problem, despite whether or not the cause of the problem was your fault or not.

• Kraft recalled all peanut-related products from the shelves.
• SUCCESS.
  

My thoughts.

The only thing that I would have done differently would have been to contact loyal Kraft customers. I would have written a brief summary about the situation in the weekly email that Kraft sends out to their email subscribers.

I liked how Kraft didn't make the situation so publicized so that people who weren't aware of the company were scared of buying Kraft products. However, I think that Kraft should have made more of an effort to reach out to loyal customers in hopes of gaining more customer loyalty and respect by keeping them informed on what was going on.

Kraft and Investor Relations

Kraft's Annual Report

Kraft's corporate website is a great resource for all investor relations related materials. This can be found in Kraft's investor center tab on the website.

Kraft's annual report appears to be more a marketing piece than anything else. In 2007, Kraft implemented a three-year growth plan with the goal of strengthening the company. The annual report primarily focuses on the growth strategy that Kraft has been implementing to strengthen their brand.

Where can I find Kraft's 10-K?

Kraft posted their 10-K form in their annual report. If you are interested in checking it out, it can be found on page 15 of the annual report. Kraft made it very easy for stockholders to navigate on the corporate website; Kraft posted all stockholder related information in one place on their website.

The goal of Kraft's annual report.

The goal of the company's annual report is to inform stockholders how well the company is doing, as well as what Kraft is doing to improve their brand image. The annual report is an opportunity for Kraft to update stockholders on all of the things that they have been doing throughout the fiscal year. The annual report is Kraft's chance to highlight their success, and to minimize the negative aspects by letting stockholders how they will improve things in the upcoming year.

Kraft's letter to shareholders..

In Kraft's letter to shareholders, Kraft's CEO, Irene Rosenfield, starts off by emphasizing how the company has been trying to become a "New Kraft." Here is my favorite tag-line from the piece: "we are turning the brands that customers have lived with for years, into brands they can't live without." I think this illustrates the passion that Kraft has. Even though they are an established company, Kraft realizes that it is their job to continually re-evaluate and revamp their products and services.

Rosenfield starts out her letter to shareholders in a very positive manner. She discusses a few points in Kraft's three-year growth plan in which she believes Kraft has been successful.

Here are some of Kraft's key messages..

• We said we were going to strengthen our senior leadership… and we did.
• We said we were going to invest in our brands.. and we did.
• We said we were going to improve our product quality... and we did.
  
• We said we were going to rebuild our product pipeline... and we did.
• And we said we were going to grow... and we did.
  

The rest of the letter talks about Kraft's progress in terms of revenue, some of the challenges that the company has faced, and four of Kraft's growth-plan's main strategies. The strategies that Rosenfield talks about are the rewiring of the organization for growth, re-framing their categories, exploiting their sales capabilities, and driving down costs without compromising quality.

How will this affect investors?

I believe the content of the letter gives investors hope and faith. Investors should be very excited with all of the upcoming changes that Kraft plans to execute. Rosenfield seems very positive with the objectives that Kraft will achieve in the upcoming year, and it makes investors and readers, like myself, feel confident in the company. Kraft's public relations practitioners are very intelligent in the sense that they admit that the company's results were not where they would have liked them to be. Kraft highlights their success along with their plans for the future, which creates confidence in investors, as opposed to doubt.

What is the tone of the piece?

Coincidentally, I always seem to be one step ahead of my homework questions. The letter is very informative. It informs investors on what kind of year the company had, as well as educates investors about the plans for the upcoming year.

Kraft's company earnings.

Kraft's latest news release about the company's earnings is from August 4, 2009, and talks about the earnings from their second quarter. The news release is not written in a reader-friendly manner. Unless you are familiar with business terms, it is somewhat difficult to understand. It includes a lot of statistics,as well as business jargon.

Here is an example of one of the statistics that you can find in the news release:

• Operating income margin increased 190 basis points year-over-year to 15.1 percent. Approximately 130 basis points of the improvement were attributable to lower costs due to the completion of the Restructuring Program, while approximately 50 basis points were attributable to favorable product mix.

CEO: Irene Rosenfeld

"The investments we've made over the past three years are driving solid business momentum in a challenging economic environment," said Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO. "We're on track to deliver strong top and bottom-line results, restore our profit margins to industry averages and consistently deliver against our long-term earnings growth target of 7 to 9 percent."

I think the quote from Rosenfeld is well written. She picked a few key points that she wanted to touch upon, and focuses on the positive aspects of each. I think the quote appears to be credible. Rosenfeld discusses the economy has become a challenge for the company, which is credible because it describes the current state that our economy is in.

C-o-n-f-i-d-e-n-c-e?

I believe that Rosenfeld's quote will create confidence in investors. Rosenfeld talks about some of Kraft's objectives for the next year such as restoring their profit margins and delivering against their long term earnings, which illustrates Kraft's confidence in their strategy.

How was bad news relayed?

Rosenfeld implies that the company has faced some challenges through her choice of key words such as "restore." The idea that Kraft has not been doing great business is subtly inferred, so that investors have the idea that Kraft didn't do as good as they may have hoped, but they don't dwell upon the negativity. Instead, Kraft highlights all of the positive things that hope to achieve in the future.

Changes? Suggestions? Feedback?

If I was in Kraft's position, I would suggest changing one thing. I would have changed the language of the news release. I think it should be more reader-friendly. The company needs to assume that not all of their investors are educated to the best of their ability, so my suggestion would be to write the new release on the level of a sixth grader.

Other than that, I think Rosenfeld's quote is beautifully written, and I can only hope that I could have written something as brilliant if I was in her position. Great job Kraft!

Relations with the community

How Kraft shows support.

It's sort of ironic that my assignment for this week is to write about community support, because I tied it into my previous blog, without even realizing it.

On the week of October 5th, Kraft put on a community relations program called "Make a Delicious Difference Week. It was the company's first global week-long period of community service. It ran from October 5th through October 10th. More than 10,000 employees in over 32 countries participated in the event. Over 150 different company sponsored projects took place worldwide over the wee-long community service effort.

Kraft's focus.

The focus of Kraft's "Make a Delicious Difference Week" campaign is to fight hunger, support healthy lifestyles, and build strong communities. Kraft partnered with organizations all over the country such as Feeding America and Save the Children.

Kraft's mission.

As the second largest food company in the world, Kraft decided that they needed to give back to their communities on a larger scale. Kraft's mission statement is to help people around the world eat and live better, and I believe that this program did just that.
Here are a couple of example that illustrates some of the projects that Kraft took on around the world:


• In Russia, 200 employees participated in outdoor activities, such as planting at a park, repairing and painting a playground, and cultivating school gardens.

• In Costa Rica, more than 75 employees cleaned floors, painted walls, shared meals and led games at a foster home for abandoned kids.


Since 1997, the company has provided more than 1 billion servings of fresh food. Kraft contributes approximately $100 million annually by donating food and money to community organizations around the world. The company has committed $180 million in the next three year to community involvement activities around the globe.


Was Kraft's public relations department successful?

I believe this event was very good in terms of public relations. Kraft is an organization that you don’t hear too much about in the news, so I’m glad that this event gained a lot of positive press coverage for Kraft.

I’m currently a fan of Kraft’s facebook page, and they’ve really started utilizing it recently. Kraft posted a youtube video the other day, so I decided to see what it was all about. The youtube video explains what Kraft’s “The Delicious Difference Week” is all about.

The goal of the video is to spread awareness on how important volunteering is. Each time the video is watched, Kraft will donate 5 meals to Feeding America through the end of October. Kraft’s original goal was 100,000 meals, but Kraft said that they have already accomplished that. As a result of all of the support, Kraft promises to double their donation if they reach 100,000 views by the end of October.

With all said, I think Kraft did an amazing job in terms of their public relations efforts.

What else could Kraft be doing?

The only suggestion that I have for Kraft is that they may want to consider doing a week-long community service based event twice a year. I think it would really benefit communities, as well as Kraft employees and management.

What kind of relationship do you have with the media?

"Make a Delicious Difference Week"

On October 5, 2009, Kraft will hold its first global week-long period of community service. The event is being called "Make a Delicious Difference Week," which will start on October 5th and will run through October 10th. The goal of the program is to fight hunger, support healthy lifestyles, and build strong communities. More than 10,000 employees in 32 countries will participate in the event.

"For years we've provided employees with opportunities to give back to their communities," Rosenfeld explained. "But, given the increased needs, we can all do more. We're doing our part by doubling our U.S. volunteer efforts and taking the spirit of the Serve America Act across U.S. borders to employees from France to Indonesia."- Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, Irene Rosenfeld.

Kraft is partnering with organizations all over the country, such as Feeding America and Save the Children.

Here are some examples of projects:

In Brazil, employees will promote healthy lifestyle habits to children at the Icaro Institute and child education centers.

In China, volunteers will educate children on nutrition in rural schools and orphanages.

Kraft believes in healthy lifestyles.

"As the second largest food company in the world, Kraft Foods is taking a stand when it comes to fighting hunger and promoting healthy lifestyles. Since 1997, the company has provided more than 1 billion servings of fresh food. The company contributes approximately $100 million annually to community organizations in more than 130 countries."

From a public relations standpoint..

I think Kraft's public relations practitioners are doing a very good job at planning and executing their community service-oriented event. Kraft is doing a great job with getting their employees involved on a global scale. It illustrates how Kraft cares about all of their communities.

One of the public relations aspects has been focused on informing the public how large-scale the event will be. Kraft employees will be performing various acts of community service on the same week around the world. Most companies perform acts of community service, but it usually is not done with all of the company employees on this type of scale.

Another public relations aspect of the campaign includes the organizations. Kraft has set up projects with some well-known non-profit organizations, that have causes that people can relate to. This can help promote Kraft with volunteers who are involved in these specific non-profit organizations who may not necessary know about Kraft.

It makes the public assume that Kraft employees must love their jobs. With the amount of employee participation, it portrays how likable the company's management must be.

Media


One of the ways that Kraft public relation practitioners are publicizing the event is through a press release. Kraft published the press release on their corporate website. When you go to their corporate website, there's a little summary of the event posted right on the main corporate page.

Another way that the event has been published is through online articles. I read a few of them on different websites, and for the most part, they were all set up the same, and contained all of the same information. It makes me think that either Kraft sent them their corporate press release, or journalists from other companies created an article using Kraft's press release as their base.

Was the company successful?

Yes, I think Kraft's media thus far has been successful. The event hasn't occurred yet, and I've already seen a handful of articles with details about the event. I am curious to see what kind of media the company will receive during the week-long event. I am sure the event will gain tons of media all over the world. I'll be on the lookout for press coverage as everything gets underway.

Performance.

I think the company did a good job with getting the event's details out on the internet, but I think it should have been publicized a lot more. If I hadn't been searching for topics to blog on, then I never would have known that Kraft was doing such a wonderful act of kindness.

I think Kraft did a great job at planning such a large-scale service concept because I've never heard of a company that has done anything like it. However, when it comes to promoting it, I think the Kraft could have used more social media outlets to promote the event.

Comments? Thoughts? Ideas?


I think Kraft could have done a number of things to promote the event beforehand. Kraft's "Make a Delicious Difference Week" has a great concept to it, and I think the public would have benefited from knowing earlier.

I think Kraft should have created a 15 second public service announcement on television. This could have showed the public how much their care about their customers and their communities. The scale of the event has the potential to create a lot of great word-of-mouth publicity about the company.

I think Kraft should have utilized their already-made Facebook page. They could have included events that employees were doing all over the world. They also could have used the Facebook page to encourage their target audience to partake in community service as well. They could have used a slogan like "if we could do it, then you could do."

Kraft also could have made a short video clip to post on YouTube. It could have explained the basics about the event. After I read the press release on the corporate website, I went to YouTube, hoping I was out of luck.

Social Media.. Are you in the know?

Social media.. just do it.
Statistics show that companies have began using social media to get their name out into the public eye and I don't blame them.. New media may be a critical step in attracting new customers, while retaining existing customers. Over the past few years, consumers have started consulting the internet at a rapid pace before making any serious purchasing decisions. But wait, it gets even better.. Consumers now have the ability to shop for groceries right in the comfort of their home, and they get delivered to the customer's doorstop. Companies are starting to realize that they have to jump on the bandwagon not only to compete with other companies, but as a means to communicate with their target audience.

And the question that everyone's been waiting to hear.. Does Kraft Tweet?
I wasn't sure whether or not Kraft had a twitter account, so I decided to do a little research. I wasn't a member of twitter, so I went through the process and created a twitter account. It's a little confusing at first; I couldn't tell which posts were by the company itself, and which posts were responses. After playing around on a few twitter pages, I decided to look up Kraft.

I was very surprised, and a little sad to say that Kraft does not tweet.

I assumed that all companies would be on twitter, but sadly this is not the case. I decided to take it a step further.. Does any of Kraft's major brands tweet? I searched a few of Kraft's brands such as Cool Whip, California Pizza Kitchen, Nabisco, Maxwell House, but there was nothing. I decided to do a little googling, and I found out that at least one of Kraft's major brands has a twitter account.

Guess which brand it was... are you tired of guessing yet?! It was.. (drumroll please).. DiGiorno!

And one little ducky said tweet tweet tweet..
I read that one of the main reasons that DiGiorno started a twitter account was because they wanted to include twitter as part of the company's marketing strategy to introduce their new Crispy Flatbread Pizza.

I browsed DiGiorno's twitter, and I didn't see the benefit of having it. Most of the updates on the page are thankyou's and news about unrelated stories. For instance, there was a link to a recap of the Emmy's, a link to an article about Earth pictures, and statuses to watch a few upcoming shows. Here's an example of one of their statuses.

"Get your ovens and TV’s ready: The Office premieres tonight at 9/8c! Pizza and Dwight = excellent."

There was no information about the company, or their new flatbread pizza. To tell you the truth, I thought the page was absolutely useless. I think the only reason a company should use a social media network is if the company has a purpose. If a company can not figure out what their purpose of using a social media outlet is, then the company should either consider revamping it or getting rid of it.

A little bit of this.. A little bit of that..
Here are some things I think DiGiorno should take into consideration if they deicde to make their twitter page more beneficial.

1. DiGiorno should use twitter as a way to disseminate information to their audience. DiGiorno should posts links to press releases, articles about their products, and any news about the brand in general. This would educate consumers about what's going on in the brand, and hopefully create some buzz.

2. DiGiorno should use twitter to give out free coupons and samples. Happy customers will tweet positive comments about their experience for other customers to see.

3. DiGiorno should answer one question a day. Tweeters should have the option to post questions to DiGiorno on subjects such as their products and services. On days that have no questions to be answered, DiGiorno could post their own question and answer response. This can also include nutrition statistics.

Does facebook help you connect and share with the consumers in your life?
After doing my share fair of twittering, I switched over to one of the hottest popular social media applications: facebook!


Again, I began looking for any Kraft related facebook pages. I was pleased to say that Kraft indeed has a facebook! I immediately clicked on the wall, eager to see what Kraft had to say to its public, but the wall was blank. (For all you non-facebook users, a wall lets other users read what the member has to say. Friends of the member can also post comments on it.) There was nothing written on Kraft's wall by Kraft or its users. Kraft must have disabled other users from writing on it.

There were a few different tabs that I clicked on such as information and recipes, which were also blank. The whole reason for creating and using new forms of social media is to engage customers with the company on a whole new level.

In this day and age, you must take advantage of all opportunities.
Dear Kraft,

You need to take step back and analyze the current situation. What was your reason for creating a facebook? What do you want your audience to take away from it? Why did your company decide to use this specific social media networking opportunity, as opposed to others?

Social media networks are great for a number of things such as conducting research, networking, building customer service, creating loyalty, and building your brand. For instance, you could use your facebook page to conduct research by posting a survey on the website. Customers love feeling involved in the company, and it usually makes customers feel good that their voice is being heard.

I realize that the scariest thing might be receiving negative comments from users, but your company can't succeed unless you listen to customer concerns and work out the problems in the company. A media outlet such as facebook allows you to respond back to the initial posts, so that you clear up any problems or misconceptions.

I hope this helps!

Yours Truly,
Me

Broadcast Yourself.
One of the new social media networks that I believe Kraft has truly embraced is YouTube. Again, I searched some of Kraft's larger brands and I found numerous commercials for most. I found a really cute Chips Ahoy commercial. If you're interested, I would also urge you to check out some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese commercials, they truly provoke happy childhood memories.

As a public relations practitioner for Kraft, I would also use YouTube to post podcasts and videocasts from executives within the company. It would be beneficial for customers to hear the company's voice. It would also be a way to keep employees in other states and countries feel more connected within the inner workings of the company.

A little bit of background information..

To all of my fabulous readers,

My friends call me Classy Corporate . The company that I have decided to blog about this semester is Kraft Foods. I am particularly interested in Kraft because of their ability to uphold their company name amongst all of their individual brands.


History
Kraft Foods was started by a man named James L. Kraft. In 1903, Kraft started selling cheese from a horse drawn carriage in Chicago, Illinois. Soon after, Kraft's brothers joined the business endeavor and J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company was established. Over the century, Kraft acquired various brands, was bought over, merged, and had its name changed. Today, the company is known as Kraft Foods.

About the Company
Kraft is the largest food and beverage manufacturer headquartered in the United States, and ranks second internationally. Kraft owns over 50 brands, and more than 40 of them are at least 100 years old. Kraft currently employs over 90,000 employees at 168 manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide.

Kraft's Mission
As stated in Kraft's mission statement, Kraft's vision is to help people around the world eat and live better. Kraft has created a few principles that describe the type of culture that Kraft wants to achieve. These principles include putting customers first, play to win, and to work simply, act quickly. Kraft has created six values that they strive their company to live by.

Kraft's Six Values:

• Innovation: Satisfying real-life needs with unique ideas.
• Quality: Fulfilling a promise to deliver the best.
• Safety: Ensuring high standards in everything Kraft makes.
  
• Respect: Caring for people, communities, and the environment.
• Integrity: Doing the right thing.
• Openness: Listening to the ideas of others and encouraging an open discussion.

Kraft's Reputation
As far as issues go, Kraft has a clean slate in my mind. I have never heard any issues or problems with Kraft in the media, so I decided to do a little research on the internet. The only issue that stood out regarding the company's reputation was when Kraft Foods laid off over 400 employees at the end of 2008 to increase the company's cost efficiency.

Kraft teams up with charity!

One of the things that I believe boosted Kraft's company's reputation was their decision to donate to a hunger relief charity. In November of 2008, Kraft announced their decision to donate $4.5 million to Chicago's Feeding America Charity within the next three years. One of Kraft's marketing executives said that Kraft feels it's their responsibility to provide families with nutritious meals. I think this will have a very positive effect on Kraft's reputation. It shows that while Kraft is one of the nation's leading food and beverage manufacturers, they are very compassionate and charitable with their resources.

Opportunity or Threat?

I just read an article about Kraft's proposal to buy the confectionery company Cadbury Plc. The proposal has not been accepted, but I think this has the potential create challenges for Kraft's public relations practitioners. This could create panic in stakeholders, employees, and consumers in thinking Kraft may lose its focus on it's own company in the midst of taking over Cadbury.

What else Kraft can do..
As a learning public relations practitioner, I believe Kraft has many opportunities that could help improve the company's reputation. Kraft can team up with other nonprofit organizations that deal with hunger and offer nutrition assistance programs.