IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Thanksgiving

  • Thankful for Thanksgiving Brands

    Thanksgiving means lots of different things to different people.  For some, it is a chance to celebrate all that we are thankful for, for others it is an opportunity to reflect upon our nation’s beginning. Most people use the occasion to reconnect with family and friends but there is one unifying factor that drives the anticipation for all: the food.

    From the first Thanksgiving in 1612, dinner has been the highlight of the event.  While it’s not likely that our founders dined on what is now considered to be the “traditional” Thanksgiving feast, they were no doubt thankful for the bounty. Today, it is not only the food that drives the holiday, but the brands that continue to supply our Thanksgiving favorites through the years. Thanksgiving staples include: stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls and, of course, Turkey! And don’t forget to leave room for the Pumpkin pie.

    (picture credit to UVA.edu)

    Most would agree that it’s just not Thanksgiving without a turkey, and Butterball has been providing the Thanksgiving bird since it was founded in 1940. Today, Butterball is the largest turkey producer in the U.S, providing 20 percent of the total turkey production in the country. Another brand essential to Thanksgiving dinner is Kraft. Kraft, which was founded in 1903, not only provides the Stove Top brand stuffing that complements the turkey so well, but Kraft also makes the French-fried onions that no green bean casserole would be complete without. Ocean Spray serves as the go-to brand for anything cranberry, including the cranberry sauce on your Thanksgiving table, and when you need something to soak up the extra gravy on the plate, chances are you’re reaching for a Crescent Roll – courtesy of Pillsbury. Finally, the Libby’s canned food brand has been around since 1869, and Thanksgiving chefs all over the country swear by their canned pumpkin in the perfect Pumpkin Pie recipe.

    Just thinking about this tried and true combination of Thanksgiving brands is enough to make most people’s mouths water! So abandon your diets, put on your elastic-waisted pants and cut another slice of Turkey, Thanksgiving only comes once a year!

    Happy Thanksgiving and Bon Appetite!

    – Lauren Habig, Ally Walton, Hannah Eure, Gene Lee, Erin Kiffmeyer

  • There is an app for that! A food app!

    If you are like most people you probably use technology to do just about anything, so why not use technology to help cook your Thanksgiving dinner? Being responsible for housing your in-laws, and preparing a feast for several hungry stomachs at the same time has never been easier! With loads of mobile applications you can make your grocery list, shop, and even have a step by step guide on how to make each dish for your meal to really have your Thanksgiving made simple. There are applications that allow you to make your grocery list and even tell you how much money you spend so you will not have the temptation to splurge. There are also apps called kitchen calculator for when there’s no time for math in the kitchen, not to worry this app has it covered. All you have to do is select a unit of measurement and in no time you’ll be converting, multiplying and adding your way to the perfect turkey stuffing.

    Leftovers? No problem! The application called “Love Food Hate Waste” offers advice on what to do with all that leftover food sitting in the fridge staring at you every time you open it. This app helps you to prepare meals with all those week’s worth of leftovers. The best part of all is that you can actually take all of the different types of leftovers you have and throw them into a virtual blender and it will concoct a whole list of yummy recipes straight from the ingredients in your fridge!  We all have a love for food. These smart apps help make our cooking experience easier and will also help bring out each of our inner Julia Childs. The digital marketing era keeps expanding and growing. Each and every day another food app is discovered and added to the encyclopedia of over 60,00 apps. What will these marketers thing of next??? Just type in food into any digital device and see!

    Enjoy your family, be thankful for all you have and don’t eat too much!

    Have a very happy Thanksgiving from IMC 2 class!

     

    -Ashley Nelson, Jordan Hill, Michela Noreski

  • Ready to shop ’til you drop?

    Gobble, Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving Eve! With all the impending excitement of a delicious home-cooked meal, time spent relaxing with family, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and of course football, let’s not forget about another American tradition: Black Friday. Every eager deal hunter and thrifty mom alike will be setting their alarm bright and early to take advantage of all this day has to offer. With deals such as Walmart’s Emerson 32″ LCD TV for $188 to Best Buy’s 24″ Dynex HD TV set for a crazy price of $79.99, the early hours are completely worth it.  Target has DVD’s for as low as $1.99 per DVD, while Sears is offering sweaters for 60 percent off from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. only. With these prices, who needs to advertise? The prices seem to speak for themselves. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Companies seem to be spending a great deal of time and effort on their advertising campaigns, from targeted Black Friday commercial campaigns, to leaked Thanksgiving Day newspaper inserts.

    Target has put an interesting spin on things and has changed the way they have marketed to these consumers. Instead of bombarding customers with prices and products they should be looking forward to buying, they have tried a different technique: portraying a ‘stereotypical’ yet over the top Black Friday shopper.  The commercials feature a woman who has been counting down the days to shop at Target for Black Friday, and gives herself pep-talks and training sessions to prepare for the big day. This fresh way of advertising really seems to have hit a nerve with the public. This is a pure example of a well-executed targeted marketing message. It’s a tongue in cheek inside joke Target is portraying to their customers, “Yes, Black Friday shoppers are crazy, but, hey, with prices this good, there’s a reason to be,” Target has been spreading this campaign through traditional mediums, such as through TV commercials, as well as through social media. They have released additional videos of the “crazy Target lady” on Youtube, as well as giving her a personal Twitter account “ChristmasChamp” to the tune of over 13,000 followers thus far. Although the cost benefits from shopping on Black Friday speak for themselves, the advertising for this day certainly serves as a great positive reinforcement. Happy shopping!

    Phelps, Kingman, Hensley

  • Celebrate Thanksgiving (or any season) With Butterball!

    In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.  For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. 
    It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.  To this day, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving in the United States is a large meal, centered around a large roasted turkey.  Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without the perfectly cooked turkey, but not all of us can be masters in the kitchen.  What happens if you don’t know how to cook a turkey?  Don’t sweat it!  It’s not a problem because now there’s the infamous Butterball Turkey Talk-Line if you need cooking assistance.

    Butterball is a brand of turkey and other poultry products produced by Butterball LLC.  The company manufactures food products worldwide and specializes in turkey, deli meats, raw roasts, and other specialty products, such as soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees. Butterball operates the world’s largest turkey-processing plant in Mount Olive, North Carolina and sells over one billion pounds of turkey a year.  Butterball is so popular that one in every five turkeys sold in the United States comes from them.  How did this Butterball craze start, though?

    Butterball has been around since 1940, but it wasn’t until late 1981 when the company decided to start a toll-free telephone line called the Turkey Talk-Line, that it skyrocketed.  The mission of creating the talk-line was to help customers with cooking and preparation questions during the Thanksgiving season.  During the first year of the Turkey Talk-Line, 11,000 people called in.  Because of the rising popularity of the Turkey Talk-Line and the huge interest in Butterball products, the company decided to expand its business.

    Butterball has a talk-line open to the public on weekdays from 8am-8pm. But it now also has a website that offers consumers the opportunity to celebrate traditional holidays and everyday meal occasions with the Butterball branded line of products.  Whether it’s the annual family get-together or just a day in the office or at school, people can celebrate with Butterball turkey.  Butterball’s website provides a variety of recipes and ideas and also offers tips and how-to’s.  If you are a new cook or are just interested in watching videos on how to choose, thaw, stuff, roast, and carve a turkey, you now do so with Butterball.

    In recent years, Butterball has become even more recognizable.  The Turkey Talk-Line number has grown to over 200,000 and it continues to increase with each holiday season. There are many brands that are associated with the holiday season; the next time you grocery shop for that Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, Butterball won’t let you down. Happy holidays!

    -Stephanie Bakolia, Claire Outlaw, David Glaubach