Brief:
- Velveeta will install a sofa it has called the Quesofa in Hard Rock Stadium to offer 2 Miami Dolphins fans a special point of view on a Dec. 20 game, according to a press release.
- The decked-out piece of furniture includes a warmer to keep Velveeta dip at an optimum temperature level, lava lights, LED lighting, a compartment for treat storage, and nacho-themed pillows. The Quesfoa provides a prime view of the game while minding social distancing guidelines, per the release.
- The Kraft Heinz brand name is running a #QuesofaContest on Twitter through Dec. 16 to discover its pair of Florida-based winners. With a rise in COVID-19 cases and a bleak outlook for the vacations, the activation tries to recreate the game day experience for customers whose in-person presence choices otherwise stay restricted.
Insight:
Kraft Heinz’s Velveeta is targeting a local market as it looks to raise brand name awareness around the holidays and offer football fans a remarkable stadium-going experience during a currently unusual period for sports seeing. “The Ultimate Quesofa Experience” deals with Miami Dolphins fans who might otherwise remain wary of going to games in-person as the novel coronavirus continues to batter Florida. The state taped more than 8,400 brand-new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and has lost over 20,000 citizens to the pandemic in total.
While the health crisis continues to strain the region, limitations have not been as substantial as somewhere else in the country. Acid rock Stadium can hold 65,000 individuals, however, the Dolphins have hosted fans in a limited capability since the fall. Even with those safety procedures in place, some fans might invite the more socially distanced and special Quesofa, an activation that lines up with how other brands have been trying to take advantage of experiential sports marketing amid the pandemic.
Cheez-It, the cracker label owned by Kraft Heinz rival Kellogg, is bringing the in-stadium experience to homebound college football fans by placing animatronic cheese wheels at the end zones of Outdoor camping World Stadium, host of the 2020 Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29. Fans can produce a customized avatar at Cheez-It’s site that has a chance to appear on video game day and throughout a live ESPN broadcast of the match. Twitter users will be able to manage the “Wheel Live Fans” animatronics by inputting commands to have them jump, dance, and spin as the video game plays out.
Kraft Heinz and Kellogg are both hitting the gas on marketing in the 4th quarter to maintain a sales boom spurred by the pandemic. As COVID-19 presses consumers indoors, a subsequent uptick in house cooking and snacking has benefited packaged food giants that for years struggled to win over choosier groups like millennials. Maintaining those brand-new customers is key marketing required for Kraft Heinz and others as vaccine developments offer a clearer timeline for when a degree of normalcy will return.
