Marketing In the News Blog Post

 Marketing In the News: General Mills Offers Alternate Ways to Tailgate During COVID-19

Football is one of the most widely viewed sports in America. Weather you watch the game from home, or in person at a stadium, tailgating before the big game is always a must. Being a student at Oregon State, I am always looking for new ways to tailgate. The other day I came across an article about the staple food company General Mills regarding a new way to safely tailgate during the pandemic. Recently, General Mills has taken a new approach to tailgating by marketing for a virtual tailgating experience where people can collaborate online at home and experience tailgating without actually physically being at the game. 

According to Peter Adams, author for the online marketing news website Marketing Dive, General Mills online portal allows fans and shoppers to experience "...recipes, videos and gameday quizzes, as well as the ability to shop General Mills brands like Totino's, Old El Paso and Honey Nut Cheerios" (General Mills takes football tailgating virtual with interactive 'homegate' experience, Adams). These virtual interactions essentially allow fans to experience the fun and excitement of tailgating on gameday without having to worry about crowds and social distancing requirements. 

General Mills is one of the first companies to ever create a virtual tailgating experience for their shoppers. One of General Mills primary values as a company is to care for the world and put people first. This new marketing campaign precisely fits in with these values they propose and the current pandemic that we are having to overcome. Over the past year or so people have been trying to constantly figure out new ways to participate in activities that they normally would, and try and make them COVID-19 friendly. By opening up a virtual "homegate" for people across the United States, General Mills has given football fans around the world the opportunity to return to a new normal and participate in activities that make them happy every gameday. 

I personally think General Mills approach to this marketing campaign was quite effective. They seem to really focus on the customer and show them the purpose behind the product and why people should participate in the virtual tailgate and buy their products. We covered a video in class titled "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" by Simon Sinek and one of the biggest takeaways I got from the activity was that "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" (Simon Sinek). Rather than focusing on what the product is, General Mills was able to show why it matters and what their product could potentially do for those struggling during the pandemic and more specifically, the people who love football and love to tailgate.

If I were the product manager for this marketing campaign, I would have done a lot of things similar to how General Mills did. One of the main things I would change is improving the actual "tailgating experience" they offer. From a business aspect, General Mills is obviously trying to create a heavy emphasis on their product; but I feel that if they would have gotten more into the tailgating aspect of their product, they would have been able to gain more revenue. All in all, this assignment has taught me that there are so many different ways you can market a product or company. The success of the companies marketing efforts is measured by how well they can portray the reason behind why they are marketing a product and why it matters.