The Broccoli Rebirth: Advertising Agency Victors & Spoils Takes On Challenge To Reposition Dull Vegetable Into Inspiring, Habit-Changing Brand

The New York Times Magazine Features a Fictitious Campaign Created by Victors & Spoils Aimed at Refreshing Broccoli's Image and Changing American Eating Habits

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Victors & Spoils

Nov 01, 2013, 10:15 ET

BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A feature story published in The New York Times Magazine Nov. 3 issue covers a fictitious campaign, created by Boulder, Colo.–based advertising agency Victors & Spoils, which aimed to transform boring broccoli into the new hip "it" vegetable and demonstrate the power marketing can have on consumers' eating habits.

The article, "Broccoli's Image Makeover," written by Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter and bestselling author Michael Moss, and a supporting video produced by senior video journalist Gabriel Johnson from The New York Times, exposes how a marketing campaign may be able to entice Americans to introduce healthier foods into their diets.

"As an advertising agency known for leveraging custom communities to reignite passion and cultural relevance for some of the world's most recognizable brands, we built a 130-person community of experts and creatives to treat broccoli as a brand that you will be inspired to connect with, as opposed to a vegetable you are being convinced to eat," said Andy Nathan, Victors & Spoils Chief Marketing Officer. "It was an exercise in finding the emotional truth behind broccoli, as opposed to repeating the rational benefits we've become immune to hearing."

The story documents the campaign's development with Bolthouse Farms, the nation's largest producer of carrots, serving as the client. The fictitious campaign examines the potential impact of creating a broccoli versus kale war, in the same vein as the famed cola wars of the 1980s that drove millions of dollars in sales for big soda brands.

"When digging into the assignment, we realized everyone was talking about kale, but there wasn't anything new to say about broccoli," said Chris Cima, Creative Director, Victors & Spoils. "Broccoli has been overlooked and left behind on the veggie tray, buried beneath cheese and hiding in Chinese food."

The campaign hinged on two distinct efforts to help consumers rediscover broccoli in meaningful ways. The first was to create a playful sibling rivalry with that current trendy veggie favorite, kale. Once relegated to mere garnish, kale has now become a hip and trendy green, giving broccoli the perfect opportunity to hijack its cultural momentum. The initiative was designed to not only tap into the cultural zeitgeist but also to disrupt preconceived notions of broccoli and its role in the American diet, as well as challenge consumers to eat differently.

The second layer of the campaign claims broccoli's place in the center of the dinner plate, repositioning the green plant as "The Alpha Vegetable." This was meant to show that broccoli was no longer acting like a side dish; it was done getting pushed aside and finally demanding the respect it deserves.

"The broccoli campaign that Victors & Spoils imagined is an excellent example of the power that marketing efforts can have to reposition healthy foods as fun foods," said Todd Putman, Chief Marketing Officer of Bolthouse Farms. "Our mission is to help make the healthy choice the easy choice for customers and we are thrilled to see cutting-edge creative firms like V&S further unlock the marketing potential of the health food category."

About Victors & Spoils
Victors & Spoils is a full-service advertising agency in Boulder, Colo. that was founded on the belief that if brands ignore the world in the making of their advertising, the world will ignore the advertising that they make. That's why Victors & Spoils opens their process to creative people everywhere so that they can build uniquely qualified teams to create uniquely engaging ideas. As a result, V&S fosters collaboration between in-house creative teams and creative people everywhere. Victors & Spoils works with the likes of JCPenney, Vail Resorts, adidas, Smirnoff, Coca-Cola, Unilever, SmartWool and Crocs, among others. For more information, visit: www.victorsandspoils.com

As part of their open-source model, Victors & Spoils worked with food experts like Ann Cooper (founder of the Food Family Farming Foundation and director of Nutrition Services for Boulder Valley School District), Robyn O'Brien (founder of Allergy Kids and author of The Unhealthy Truth), Hugo Matheson (chef and co-founder of The Kitchen), Bryce Brown (founder/executive director of The Growe Foundation), Elisa Bosley (editor-in-chief of Delicious Living) and Carlatta Mast (editor-in-chief of NewHope360.com and natural foods merchandiser) as well as a panel of editors from New Hope Natural Media.

Source: Society of Actuaries (SOA) study
http://www.soa.org/News-and-Publications/Newsroom/Press-Releases/New-Society-of-Actuaries-Study-Estimates-$300-Billion-Economic-Cost-Due-to-Overweight-and-Obesity.aspx

CREDITS:
Victors & Spoils built a custom community comprised of 130 people who contributed to this project. Here is a list of all the people we'd like to thank for all their pro-bono efforts in the crusade to make people care about broccoli again.

Community Experts:
Sara Brito; Troy Burrows; Jason Hines; Rob Lewis; Pat Feehery; Bill Hollister; Doug Kohnen; Gabe Cendoma; Joe Corr—School principal; Max Lenderman—School principal; Ryan Nikolaidis—School principal; Shane Kent—School principal; Jason Condon—farmer/owner, Isabelle Farm; Cambria Vaccaro—VP/Marketing & Customer Service, Door to Door Organics; Hugo Matheson—chef/co-founder, The Kitchen; Dennis Phelps—executive chef de cuisine, The Kitchen; Charlie Lord—events & marketing manager, The Kitchen; Con Lazarakis—owner & operator, Sol Juices; Bryce Brown—founder/executive director, The Growe Foundation; Katie Bruzdzinski—owner and chef, Eat Catering; Ann Cooper—founder, Food Family Farming Foundation, and director, Nutrition Services for Boulder Valley School District; Mara Fleishman—executive director, Food Family Farming; Elisa Bosley—editor-in-chief, Delicious Living, New Hope Natural Media; Carlatta Mast—editor-in-chief, NewHope360.com, and natural foods merchandiser, New Hope Natural Media; Jenna Blumenfeld—managing editor, New Hope Natural Media; Kelsey Blackwell—senior food editor, New Hope Natural Media; Connor Link—senior editor, New Hope Natural Media; Len Monheit—executive director, strategic development, New Hope Natural Nutrition Business Journal, New Hope Natural Media; Robyn O'Brien— Allergy Kid Foundation; Kyle Mendenhall—executive chef, The Kitchen; Todd Putman—chief marketing officer, Bolthouse Farms; Carolyn Tao—director of marketing, Bolthouse Farms; Ji Yeon Kim—associate brand manager, Bolthouse Farms

Community Creatives:
Ben Lovejoy, Jonah Sanders, Vincent Sebastian Taschetti, Marcela Fajardo, Ross Cauvel, Stephen Reidell, Colleen Hickman, Ilana Zatkowsky, Joshua Squires, Elysia Yeager, Jake Sullivan, Leslie Bartley, Elizabeth Beasley, Matthew Hegge, Scott Burns, Arjun Krishnan, Frank Lin, Nikki Lott, Michael Collado, Jeff Wasiluk, Karan Bhatia, Erik Tieze, Will Patterson, Greg Le Duc, Mark Sargent, Graham Rosso, Leon Orsmund, Shiraz Gani, David Horne, Stefano Boscutti, Frank Coehlo, Louisa McClure, Mary Logue, Sarah O'Grady, Brock Johnson, Tyler Bailey, Jerry Stoner, Trudy Lunden, Kevin Baldwin, Mary Click, Don Stephenson, Adam Pierno, Lacey Ellis, Lizzy Pollott, Brad Hager, David Pinto, Justin Oberman, Karen Hart, Nigel Corbett, Ben Hamza, Stephen Benfey, Bastiaan Bless, Sam Wilkes

Victors & Spoils:
John Winsor, Jonathan Balck, Andy Nathan, Scott Sibley, Noah Clark, Teresa Robbins, Robert Reich, Mandy Eckford, Jill Kelleman, Kate McQuail, Chris Cima, Regan Riddoch, April Moore, Jen Miller, Marco Merced, Ari Levi, Fabien Dodard, Travis Brown, Ashleigh Buck, Mat Bartee, Ayla Larsen, Avery Henderson, Griffin Miller, Carolina Salas, Emily Wieland, Annie Vlosich, Suzi Jump, Chad Walker