With competition eating away at sales growth, organic grocer Whole Foods Market launched its first national marketing campaign Monday.
The new campaign will promote the theme “Values Matter,” focusing on the sourcing of food and social responsibility over bargain pricing. Whole Foods has substantially beefed up its ad budget for the campaign, which will include commercials airing on prime-time television shows such as “Modern Family,” “Scandal” and “The Voice,” along with print and digital ads.
Whole Foods will spend $15 million to $20 million on the campaign through the winter. The Austin, Texas-based grocer spent $4.5 million last year on advertising, according to Kantar Media.
The new marketing push is headed up by Jeannine D’Addario, who joined Whole Foods as vice president of communications in August. Previously she was chief marketing officer for Stanford Children’s Health in California. New York-based Partners &; Spade created the campaign.
“Whole Foods Market has been subtly telling our story for decades, and now is the time to overtly communicate what we’ve spent more than 35 years creating as change agents in the food world,” D’Addario said in a statement. “We are excited to share our stories, and to have deeper conversations with our customers so they can make meaningful choices about what they decide to buy and support.”
Whole Foods reported same-store sales rose 3.9 percent for the third quarter, falling below projections. Executives cited increased competition in the organic grocery space as contributing to a slowdown in growth.
Whole Foods has 399 stores in the U.S.
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