Gobble, gobble!
Food fest season is here, as Thanksgiving brings families together at dinner tables across the U.S.
This year, as brands lean into the excitement of cooking one’s best dishes, setting out one’s best china and spending time together, themes of addressing food waste and food insecurity, as well as embracing popular Thanksgiving meals, have emerged in their advertising.
Brands including Hellmann’s, Green Giant and others have launched initiatives commemorating the holiday and its staple dishes, as well as acknowledging the lack of access elsewhere. As people prepare to enter the season of giving, coziness and togetherness, some brands have taken pause to encourage consumers to, in fact, be thankful for the resources they have.
The campaigns come as holiday ads continue to ramp up ahead of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s, with many consumers starting holiday shopping earlier than usual, according to a Gallup poll.
But don’t worry, no matter how excited we are for the holidays, we won’t skip over Thanksgiving (we see you, turkey lovers). That’s why we’ve highlighted all the Thanksgiving ads we’ve seen so far below:
Lipton Iced Tea
There are few things worse at Thanksgiving dinner than feasting on a dry turkey with no bev. Just ask NFL wide receiver Adam Thielen, who went viral last year after he was caught spitting out dry turkey after the Thanksgiving game.
To spare dinner attendees everywhere this year, Lipton partnered with Thielen to help the rest of America have a pleasant turkey-eating experience with Lipton Iced Tea Bird Brine and some cool iced tea to wash it down.
In a video shared on Instagram, Thielen shares a recipe hack for brine, which is typically made with water and salt, some sugar and aromatics to help punch up the flavor. Instead, Thielen uses salt and Lipton iced tea half-and-half or Lipton iced tea lemon. The recipe aims to cut down on prep time with Lipton to punch up the flavor.
Hellmann’s
Hellmann’s is carrying on with its multi-year initiative to reduce food waste with a Thanksgiving campaign that encourages people to turn leftovers into new meals. Created in partnership with Illusion CGI Studio, Between 2 Slices is an out-of-home and print ad campaign that pushes consumers to use Thanksgiving leftovers to make sandwiches the following day(s).
The brand created a dedicated microsite that lists different recipes to try for Thanksgiving leftovers, including a spicy grilled cheese sandwich with turkey, tomato and avocado and chicken and apple salad sandwiches. The campaign comes as Hellmann’s new food waste survey shows two in three American families throw away leftovers after holiday gatherings, contributing to the nearly 305 million pounds of food discarded each year during Thanksgiving alone.
Lay’s
Picture this: A lovely dinner table, beautifully decorated, where all your friends gather and can’t wait to dig into turkey, mac and cheese and of course, creamy mashed potatoes. Everyone is sharing their recipes and the ingredients they used when you find out a shocking revelation: The mashed potatoes are made with Lay’s potato chips.
If you’re stunned to hear the possibility — well, it’s not far-fetched. This Thanksgiving, Lay’s partnered with reality TV star and foodie Matt James to release an exclusive cookbook, Lay’s Potato Chip to Potato Dish with Matt James, featuring an original Lay’s mashed potatoes recipe created by James. The cookbook, launched on November 8, comes with a limited-edition Lay’s Classic potato chip bag redesigned for Friendsgiving.
In addition to the cookbook, which will be distributed through an Instagram sweepstakes, James created a step-by-step video he and Lay’s are posting to their social channels showing the recipe being made.
Green Giant
Green Giant hosted Friendsgiving for good, inviting mascot friends including the Pillsbury Doughboy, Mr. Peanut and Honey Nut Cheerios’ BuzzBee over for a campaign to raise donations for nonprofit organization No Kid Hungry.
In an Instagram video posted on November 8, Green Giant and several mascots gathered together for a meal with each mascot bringing their favorite holiday recipe. Each of these recipes has since been compiled into a free digital cookbook, which consumers can download on a dedicated microsite. Additionally, the Green Giant has pledged a donation to No Kid Hungry to help make sure kids across the country have access to three healthy meals a day.
Consumers interested in hosting their own Friendsgiving celebrations can sign up with No Kid Hungry to turn their events into fundraisers and receive tools and ideas to help raise funds. Each Friendsgiving sign-up between November 8 and 30 will result in a $1 donation by Green Giant to No Kid Hungry with a minimum total donation of $25,000 and a maximum of $35,000.
Booking.com
Foodies...prepare! Booking.com has partnered with the queen of Thanksgiving herself, Martha Stewart, for a chance to spend Thanksgiving at her Bedford, New York, farm.
In a campaign launched on November 6, Booking.com said it will offer one pair of Stewart fans an opportunity to stay at her farm from November 18-19 and enjoy an itinerary of activities curated by Stewart, including: A welcome tour of her tenant house and farm, a guided tour of the entire property, including the chicken coop, gardens and stables, a table setting and wreath-making demo with executive director of design Kevin Sharkey, brunch with Stewart herself, prepared by James Beard award-winning Chef Thomas Joseph and signed copies of Stewart’s cookbooks.
The stay will become bookable on a first-come, first-served basis on November 16 at noon ET, for a stay priced at $11.23, in honor of Thanksgiving. In addition to the overnight stay and full itinerary, the experience will include airport transfer through Booking.com.
This story first appeared on campaignlive.com.