Objective
In 2009, Foster Farms sought to launch a community program to help local schools in California’s Central Valley address challenging economic times. The high-density Latino population here was also one of the state’s hardest hit by the economic recession. The Food 4 Thought program was launched in partnership with a local food bank as an incentive-based program addressing two fundamental needs—hunger and education—by providing groceries to elementary school students who participate in after school tutorial programs. The program overwhelmingly served Latino students.
Tactics
Mosaico helped Foster Farms launch the community relations program Food 4 Thought by first establishing a partnership with Central Valley food banks. Research and experience tells us that Latinos recognize and appreciate companies that support their local communities, so our strategy centered on the promotion of these partnerships. The agency conducted an aggressive media relations campaign reaching out to the area’s print and broadcast media and provided a Spanish-speaking media spokesperson for the program.
Results
The campaign generated stellar results by securing media coverage in the most respected Hispanic publications in the area and securing goodwill for the company. Local Univision and Telemundo TV stations, Univision radio stations and the local Spanish-language newspaper Vida en el Valle covered the program at length. The two month campaign generated more than 313,400 media impressions and a total of 41 minutes and 35 seconds of airtime. A year after the program was launched, a survey conducted among parents with children in the program revealed that Food 4 Thought had a positive impact in academics and significantly helped family budgets. As a result of its success, the program received the support of additional corporate partners and Food 4 Thought expanded from helping 500 students in its first year to 825 students served in its second.