Panera Bread Interactive Participatory Proactive Messaging

 

Panera Bread is inviting consumers to include then in their daily activities, thus keeping Panera top of mind.  How do you extend the halo of your brands ‘better for you’ messaging?  At Panera Bread its as easy as designing swimwear according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

What more health, fun, and interactive that swimming in the summer time.  Very little.  Panera Bread’s marketing team understands that their customers are active, seeking food discovery, while looking for the foods and food companies with ‘better for you’ products.  Johnson, went on to say there is no doubt that this line of product will sell out fast.

So, when Panera Bread last week released a line of swim-related merchandise centered around the restaurant chain’s soups, specifically the broccoli and cheddar. No one laughed, once again Panera one upped the competition in sending a brand invitation to its target consumer.

We all know that Panera Bread soup has hundreds of copy-cat recipes on the internet and is a cult-favorite among fans. So, the Panera marketing team tossed the copy-cat’s a challenge according to Johnson. 

You have to like the customer relevance, as the new collection, described on Panera’s TikTok account as “SOUP-er,” includes two one-piece swimsuits and two patterned swim trunks. The first set (one one-piece and one set of trunks) has a pattern of illustrated broccoli and cheddar with a turquoise background. The other set is emblazoned with the word “Soup” and the brand’s logo in Panera’s signature green and yellow.

Get this, Panera Breads team even created a circular pool float in the shape and design of its famous bread bowl, giving consumers the chance to fully embody their favorite soup by wearing the patterned swimsuit and floating in the bread-bowl float.

This isn’t the first time the fast-casual brand has done a marketing campaign around its soup, but it is the first merchandise line. Panera previously released a commercial centered around its soup with ‘The Office’ star Phyllis Smith, a fellow St. Louis native.

The merchandise can be purchased at swimsoups.com. Click through to see the swim line.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter