Take a stroll through ConAgra Foods’ headquarters building in downtown Omaha and you’ll notice bold, quirky posters hanging from walls, fastened to cubicles, dangling from ceilings and appearing as computer screensavers.
Many of the posters, which were designed as advertisements, are brightly colored, conversational and incompatible with the company’s old image.
Love-themed phrases like “Blind date,” “Office romance” and “If you love something, set it free” are scrawled on the posters with images of different ConAgra products or iconic food-related items such as a can opener or a box of recipe cards.
Lincoln-based marketing firm Bailey Lauerman designed the campaign to reach a special audience: ConAgra employees.
The posters are a small part of the company’s overall effort to instill pride in its employees. They also exemplify the progressive, open approach ConAgra has taken under the direction of CEO Gary Rodkin, said Lance Koenig, an executive with Bailey Lauerman.
Since ConAgra completed an image makeover in June, it has targeted employees, not customers or investors, with the highest volume of marketing. The goal is to build a network of informed employees who will advocate for company brands, supermarket staples such as Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Chef Boyardee and Peter Pan peanut butter.
“I think it helps, just in terms of employee familiarity with what we’re working on,” said Teresa Paulsen, a company spokeswoman. “Even if somebody doesn’t work in a (research and design) lab, they can talk about our innovation and products with friends and family.”
Internal marketing campaigns like ConAgra’s aren’t a new concept, but they have proved to be successful at many consumer-based companies, said Phani Tej Adidam, chairman of the department of marketing and management at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“If this was (Union Pacific), how many of their employees are consumers of their product? Not many. It’s much more common in consumer companies,” Adidam said.
In many cases, companies use internal marketing to take chances or to test advertising campaigns before taking them public, Adidam said.
ConAgra unveiled a new logo in June that it hopes more closely identifies it as the maker of consumer foods that people use every day. The logo contains the company name, an abstract image of a spoon on a plate that forms a smiley face, and the tagline, “Food you love.”
Since then, many of the company’s 25,000 workers, including 3,000 in Omaha, have been included in the ongoing marketing effort.
The company evaluates the success of its internal communication through surveys that measure employee engagement, not by sales numbers, Paulsen said.
There’s no indication whether communities where ConAgra has offices or manufacturing facilities have seen an uptick in sales, she said.
Rashanda Pruitt, who has worked in a test kitchen in Omaha for three years, said her co-workers are better informed and more enthusiastic about their jobs because of the company’s effort to engage them.
“You really get a sense that the company is dedicated to making this proactive change,” Pruitt said. “They’re not doing it halfway.”
The love-themed internal ads are only part of the overall campaign, Pruitt said, but they almost always make her smile.
“I think they’re funny, actually.”
Other additions around the re-branded Omaha headquarters include a “LoveNotes” wall where workers can leave messages with magnetic logos and phrases, and the “Buy Our Brands” store that sells discounted merchandise to employees.
Said Craig Heuton, a manager of the company’s in-store marketing campaigns, “You’re reminded of why you’re here and that you’re part of a bigger team pulling for the same goal.”
Contact the writer:
444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com
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