Brands evolve. Some marketers get that, some don’t. For years ConAgra has been the name behind numerous popular food brands like Hunt’s tomatoes, Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, and Healthy Choice meals.

But when the company asked consumers what they thought of the overall ConAgra brand, turns out a lot of people didn’t know the company had anything to do with those fave food they’d been buying for ages.

Could be because the company also had a big stake in commodity trading, fertilizer and ethanol businesses … real behind-the-scenes farm type stuff. Indeed, having come from a family of farmers and with many of my relatives living in rural central Illinois, that’s still a lot of what I associate with the ConAgra brand.

But now ConAgra has sold all the other farm type businesses, and will concentrate entirely on branded packaged food. With that move, comes a revamp of the company’s identity, to one that’s more visible, contemporary, and focused on the consumer food market.

Smart move for them. And the creative is well executed. Here’s what ConAgra has to say about the shift in identity:

ConAgra Foods Revamps Its Look, Pledges to Continue 
Delivering the Food Consumers Love

Consumers are being let in on a secret: ConAgra Foods is the face behind the brands they’ve had on their shopping lists for years. The company revealed a new brand identity today that highlights the tremendous appeal of its products to consumers– the brand behind food people love; food like Hunt’s tomatoes, Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, and Healthy Choice meals.

The new identity was created after research with multiple stakeholder groups, including customers, revealed lack of association between ConAgra Foods and its popular brands. The logo itself features a new, more contemporary color palette along with a ‘spoon in plate’ icon designed to reinforce the company’s position as a leading food company. The tagline, “Food you love” reinforces the individual company brands that consumers love.“Our new brand identity is an articulation of the essence of ConAgra Foods–making great food,” said ConAgra Foods CEO Gary Rodkin. “We’ve changed the company fairly dramatically over the past several years to get these strong brands and products at the core of everything we do.”

In 2008 the company sold its trading operation, exiting the commodity trading, fertilizer and ethanol businesses, and now focuses exclusively on branded packaged food sold at grocery stores and other retailers and food sold to restaurants and other manufacturers.

“We’re committed to our brands that consumers already know and love, while at the same time creating new, popular choices for generations to come,” Rodkin said. “We believe the new brand identity for the company captures both our heritage and our progressive spirit in becoming better and better every day for our consumers and our customers.”

www.conagrafoods.com

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