Use Every Channel You Have to Spread the National Family Meals Month Message

By: Tom Cosgrove, Manager, Program and Development, FMI Foundation

The entire food retail industry today is striving to offer consumers a seamless shopping experience. Almost every company now has an omnichannel strategy that will give consumers every possible opportunity to access its products, services and information.

That same omnichannel strategy can be — and has been — applied to the industry’s efforts during National Family Meals Month™ to assist families to eat at least one more meal together each week.

During the month of September, every facet of the industry will work together to help consumers understand the health and social benefits of families sharing more meals together.

How can the campaign to make consumers aware of National Family Meals Month™ work across every channel used to engage shoppers?

Last September, Kroger, with nearly 2,800 stores, made its inspiredgathering.com website the hub of all the resources for its campaign, “We’re in! With delicious, easy ideas. Kroger bringing families together.” There was also sampling in stores, a social media program and information in print newsletters and direct mail.

Through health and wellness programs in-store, Kroger’s The Little Clinic network of health clinics and the Dietitian Connection helped share the importance of family meals with patients and an even wider group of consumers.

Price Chopper launched its own omnichannel campaign that involved its 137 stores in Upstate New York. Along with its newspaper coverage, e-health newsletters, sampling and press engagement, it collaborated with Cornell University’s extension program and the Times Union news organization to spread the word.

The use of omnichannel strategies to promote the campaign can be used by more than just companies with brick-and-mortar stores too.

Rosie Applications provides online grocery shopping platforms to food retailpartners in 10 states.

During last year’s National Family Meals Month™, Rosie combined efforts with 11 of the independent grocer partners it does business with. The partners took advantage of Rosie’s Family Meals Month microsite and shared its #FamilyMealsMonth and #RosieFMM hashtags.

As a result, Rosie and its grocer partners sent e-mail messages about the campaign to 59,000 people and earned more than 200,000 impressions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The bottom line?

Every segment of the food retail industry can use the omnichannel marketing strategies it has adopted to make sure each family in the United States understands the value of eating one more meal together each week.

Visit  www.FMIFamilyMeals.com to learn how you and your company can participate, and tune in on Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 1 p.m. E.T. to hear more about our new resource guide, Best Practices and Excellence in National Family Meals Month Programming, via FMI's Facebook page.