The $3 million campaign, which begins on Friday, is the largest so far by Spectrum Brands Holdings, which obtained the grill brand in 2010 when it bought its then-owner, Russell Hobbs.
George Foreman grills were originally manufactured by Salton, which bought the rights to the former boxer’s name for $137.5 million in 1999. Mr. Foreman promoted the grill as “the lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machine” for Salton, but Spectrum Brands has not employed him as an endorser.
The new campaign is the grill brand’s second largest in the last five years and the largest since Spectrum Brands purchased it, according to data supplied by Kantar Media. The brand’s advertising budget was $4.6 million in 2008 and $1.9 million in 2010. The grills were not advertised in 2009, and only $169,000 was spent last year.
According to NPD Group, a market research company, total sales of indoor electric grills in the United States dropped 10 percent, to $202 million, in the 12 months through November. Andy Van Wie, vice president for North American sales and marketing for the home appliance division of Spectrum Brands, said Foreman grills accounted for more than 60 percent of United States sales of indoor electric grills that simultaneously cook the top and bottom surfaces of foods.
Ranging in price from $20 to $200, Foreman grills are sold by retailers like Walmart, Target, Sears and Macy’s, as well as by QVC and Amazon.com. Their sloped design is meant to remove fat from the foods they cook.
The new campaign, called the George Foreman Grills Weight Loss Challenge and created by Spectrum Brands and ShopPR, a New York public relations agency, will be introduced on a new Web site, GeorgeForemanCooking.com/WeightLoss, and via e-mail and the brand’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
A digital ad will also make its debut on Friday above the Toys “R” Us on Broadway and 45th Street in Manhattan. The 15-second spot, which will run 35,000 times through the end of 2013, features Bethanny Ramsey, who participated in a preliminary weight-loss contest run by Spectrum Brands last summer and lost 15 pounds and 35 inches.
The ad shows a svelte Ms. Ramsey holding up a pair of pants she wore before her diet. The accompanying text says, “Drop 2 pant sizes like Bethanny,” and urges viewers to “take the challenge” to “look like a knockout” and win $2,500.
The weight-loss contest will run four times next year; one entrant per contest will win $2,500 in cash and a $500 credit for Whole Health products. Contestants can download a 102-page guidebook from the contest’s Web site that provides tips on calculating calories, shopping for and preparing healthful meals, and exercising.
Digital ads similar to the one in Times Square will begin running Jan. 1 on Web sites like Parents.com and BiggestLoser.com, while in-store grill promotions will take place at Target and Walmart stores. New packaging for the grills mentions the contest and the “Look like a knockout” tagline. In addition, on Jan. 31, Spectrum Brands will announce celebrity chef and Food Network star Gina Neely as the contest’s spokeswoman.
Mr. Van Wie said the campaign was aimed at mothers aged 25 to 44 with an annual household income of $50,000 to $75,000.
Debra Mednick, executive director of NPD Group’s home division, said the indoor electric grill category of home appliances required “an advertising push, an education to help boost the category.” She said the campaign had the potential “to rejuvenate demand for electric grills by building excitement at retail and raising consumers’ awareness.”
Ms. Mednick also said the campaign’s weight loss theme was relevant to many Americans. “There are many millions struggling with obesity,” she said. “It’s certainly an important topic.”
Brian Sheehan, an associate professor of advertising at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse, said the campaign looked like “Weight Watchers meets Subway,” whose spokesman, Jared Fogle, lost 245 pounds eating low-fat Subway sandwiches.
“What’s really cool about it is that, unlike Weight Watchers or Subway, their product is the enabler between the plan and the food,” Mr. Sheehan said of the grill brand. “Whether it works or not remains to be seen.”
The introduction of the campaign near New Year’s could help it gain people’s attention, “since many individuals are thinking about weight control, looking for different sorts of information to better manage their weight,” said Myles S. Faith, an associate professor of nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Whether this program helps adults better restore calorie balance, we don’t know the answer,” Dr. Faith said. “Science will have to evaluate that.”
Howard Anderson, a senior lecturer of entrepreneurship at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, called the campaign a “stretch.”
“Is George Foreman a nutritionist or a doctor? No. We don’t expect any of this stuff from this product,” he said. “It can’t make the leap of faith over the fence and offer credible advice on diets. They’re trying to extend their brand into a place where it has no perceived value.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/business/media/george-foreman-grills-advertised-through-weight-loss-contest.html?partner=rss&emc=rss