The New York Times is reporting that, in an interesting bit of interactive advertising, Kraft Foods is going to be promoting Stove Top Stuffing via bus shelters. But not just any old bus shelters: Bus shelters that are heated, much in the manner that Kraft hopes that Stove Top Stuffing warms consumers’ hearts.
“Stove Top as a brand has a great equity in the area of warmth,” said Ellen Thompson, brand manager for Stove Top at Kraft Foods in Glenview, Ill. “This is an opportunity to expand into a multisensory experience.”
We were actually unaware up until this moment that warmth was something in which a brand could have equity, but we suppose Stove Top needs to grasp at whatever straws they can for the annual post-Thanksgiving stuffing sales downturn.
To accompany the heated bus stations, the Stove Top folks will be distributing single-serving cups of stuffing, which they are pitching as a recession-friendly side dish option. No word on whether they will be dressed in amusing costumes — turkeys are so late-November, so we’ve got our money on giant croutons, or maybe a lovable, huggable bottle of Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil.
The ten heated stuffing shelters will be scattered around downtown Chicago, where commuters will presumably jostle for space with the untold hundreds of stray animals and homeless folks who will be attracted by the warmth. Forty other bus shelters bearing the same slogan — “Cold, provided by winter. Warmth, provided by Stove Top.” — will not be heated, and commuters will presumably look around in confusion and be all “what the heck do you mean, ‘warmth’? It is winter in Chicago,” and then swear off Stove Top forever.
Hot Food, and Air, at Bus Stops [NYT]
[Photo via Gray Monk’s Flickr]
