ST. LOUIS: The Sara Lee Bakery Group has launched a $10 million marketing campaign for a new line of fresh breads. PR spending will account for roughly 2% of the program, or about $200,000, said Steve Mura, manager of national consumer promotions with the bakery group.
Sara Lee is working with longtime agency Alan Taylor Communications on the campaign, which kicked off October 8 with interviews for the group's CEO on CNBC and CNN.
PR efforts have included targeting media in the 31 cities across the country where Sara Lee has bakeries producing the bread. "We're working to play up the local angle," talking about new jobs and new production at local plants, Mura explained.
The bread is being sold in the South, Southeast, Midwest, West, and Southwest, reaching about 60% of the country's population.
In St. Louis, Chicago, Phoenix, and Atlanta, the company is rolling out an old-fashioned horse-drawn bread delivery wagon for the new products, hoping to garner spots on local TV and in print media. Spokespeople, such as the wife of St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, have been lined up in those four markets. All of the spokespeople are either wives or mothers of local sports figures.
The wagon is meant to play up key message points about the new bread being old-fashioned and wholesome, Mura said.
