Sandwich app brings Wonder back to lunch

By Andrea Benda

With obesity rates at all-time high and a lingering recession, there’s a consumer need to watch waistlines and wallets.

Wonder Bread is here to help with its interactive application, the Sandwich Wonder-izer. The application allows consumers to get creative with their brown-bag lunches while watching calories.

Consumers can craft their own perfect virtual sandwich—starting with one of 12 different Wonder breads—and see the nutritional value of their creation. If you’re shocked that your double-decker salami and pepperoni with extra mayonnaise and provolone packs a frightening 1,000+ calories, you can swap ingredients for any number of healthier choices. There’s everything from fat-free ranch and salsa to artichokes and cantaloupe.

The Wonder-izer has wide appeal: Both the frugal office worker who’s tired of the same turkey sandwich and the health-conscious mom will be impressed. Kids can have fun building their fantasy lunch—maybe peanut butter and banana, with marshmallow cream, candy corn and potato chips (Yes, all options).

With many choices and intriguing graphics, the application is entertaining. But more importantly, it provides a valuable service to consumers.

Counting calories is trickier than it sounds. Try keeping track of sodium, cholesterol, calcium and vitamins, too. In just a couple clicks, this tool can show consumers the nutritional give-and-take that occurs with adding or subtracting ingredients.

Wonder has strategically branded the application by keeping their name in the forefront without distracting from the tool’s use. A prominently displayed "share sandwich" feature also encourages users to show off their culinary creativity by comparing their lunches on Facebook and Twitter.

By using this fun teaching tool, the Wonder Bread brand is likely top-of-mind when a consumer visits the grocery store to buy ingredients for their perfect sandwich.

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Andrea Benda is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications Program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. She has never had a slice of Wonder Bread in her life. Andrea can be reached at andreabendea2011@u.northwestern.edu

Babies, Puppies and Kittens! Oh My!

People can’t get enough of the economy. Aside from the usual subjects such as the chasm that is the Nation’s growing debt and the unemployment rate, a less obvious socio-cultural affect of the recession is taking place. I’ll give you a hint: it has to do with Pokémon, the Mini-Cooper and animals dressed in outfits.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of user-generated videos of animals and babies, not to mention miniature versions of popular foods such as the slider and cupcake. In November’s issue of Vanity Fair, Jim Windolf claims that the economic downturn is fueling our fascination with all things small, cute and cuddly.

Sure, cute stuff has always been present and appealing. However, it wasn’t until recently, Windolf argues, that the phenomenon took off on a mass scale of present-day proportions. It’s as if Americans have reverted back to familiar, child-like comforts during a decade that brought us 9/11 and the war in Iraq.

This trend has seeped into advertising, media and product design. Think of the small and rounded body of the SmartCar, the Snuggie, animated movies like “Up” and mascots like the Geico Gecko (a creature that has become more anthropomorphic as the years progress).

However, a small but growing cultural backlash is occurring. The cuteness craze is being mocked and satirized – signs that the “age of cuteness” could be losing traction and, possibly, coming to a close.

The implication for marketing and advertising is this: as professionals, we need to be cognizant of these larger societal trends as they bleed into popular culture and daily life. Doing so will aid in the understanding of consumer motivations and, subsequently, the development of more meaningful communications.

­--Mike Witham

The Evolution of Marketing

David Armano created this fantastic visual explaining how changing consumption habits have changed the way marketers need to think.The visual nicely sums up the key points of a recent Economist article discussing how the recession will change the way people shop. In this new post-consumer era marketers need to really understand the needs of their customers, a key tenet of the IMC approach.

How do you think the recession will change marketing? What are you thoughts on this visual representation?

-- Stacy Cohen