Blue Apron highlights personalization in a new marketing campaign

Diving Brief:

  • blue apron announced Monday the launch of a new national brand campaign, which it launched with two advertising spots. One focuses on the convenience of Blue Apron’s services, while the other is a series of online videos highlighting the flavor, nutrition, and ease of preparing its meals.
  • As part of its planned marketing strategy for this year, the meal kit maker said it will refresh its sign-up experience, offer a “tailored menu option and selection of preferences” and roll out more assets. creatives who support online and offline marketing.
  • With the campaign, Blue Apron said it is focused on creating a simplified and personalized customer experience. The effort comes at a time when the meal kit industry is facing slower growth and stiff competition for customer meal dollars.

Overview of the dive:

Blue Apron’s new marketing campaign is the meal kit company’s latest push to differentiate its offerings.

“Our 2022 marketing strategy is centered on effectively engaging consumers and providing them with a more seamless and personalized experience,” Dani Simpson, Chief Marketing Officer of Blue Apron, said in a statement. “This is the first of many initiatives planned for this year as we seek to increase customer awareness, as well as order volume, size and frequency.”

By developing the advertisements which have just been published, which are broadcast Blue Apron YouTube Account, the company said it relied on segmentation research conducted over the past year to understand demographics and information about its customers, then determine how to match its target customers with the value proposition of the company. At the end of some of the new ads, Blue Apron is offering customers $110 off meal plan subscriptions.

One of the advertisements links customers’ dietary health to the company’s work on what it calls “planetary wellness”. Earlier this month, Blue Apron announced that it had achieves its carbon neutrality goal end of March and is now working to put in place “systematic reductions designed to achieve a longer-term goal of net zero”.

This new customer acquisition offer comes at a time when meal kit sales have slowed after significant growth at the start of the pandemic.

In Blue Apron’s fourth quarter, which ended December 31, 2021, the company saw its net sales increase by 13% over a two-year period. Its number of orders, average order value, orders per customer and average revenue per customer all increased from the same period in 2019, although its number of customers fell from 351,000 to 336,000.

Earlier this year, Blue Apron brought media attention to its partnership with Panasonic to sell a countertop oven that costs more than $500. Since then, the meal kit manufacturer has added breakfast to their menu as part of its complementary options which also include appetizers, side dishes and desserts.

In March, Blue Apron announced the appointments of Amit Shah, former president and chief marketing officer of 1-800-Flowers.com, and Beverly K. Carmichael, who has leadership experience in companies ranging from airlines to restaurants. , to its Board of Directors. .

Competitor HelloFresh, meanwhile, has also continued to grow and innovate. At the end of last year, the German manufacturer of meal kits says he plans to enter new markets and improve its customer experience with “more flexibility and more meal choices”. Meal kit and prepared food companies are facing increasing competition from restaurants and grocery stores that have seen foot traffic rebound more than two years into the global pandemic.