Raisin-hating millennials have caused problems for Sun-Maid, and now it's launching its first ad in 10 years to win them back
- Sun-Maid wants to win over millennials who have stopped eating raisins.
- To do so, it is sprucing up its brand image and launching new types of snacks.
- Recently appointed CEO Harry Overly is leading the charge and aiming for $100 million in growth over the next three to four years.
Sun-Maid wants to become relevant again.
The United States' well-known red-box raisin snack may have been your top choice as a child, but somewhere between now and then, it's slipped through the gap.
Data from the National Consumer Panel (NCP), which includes around 120,000 US households, shows that over the past year, the majority of consumers in the survey that were buying Sun-Maid raisins were older generations - baby boomers and seniors - rather than millennials and Gen X.
Sun-Maid's recently appointed CEO Harry Overly, 39, has a plan to change that.
"We are the biggest dried fruit brand in the world, but we haven't acted like an industry leader," he told Business Insider in a recent interview.
Overly said that the popularity of these raisin snacks seems to have skipped a generation, and they're no longer top of mind for millennials who are starting to have children. He's hoping to change this by amping up the image of the brand and winning over these consumers with new snacks and a targeted marketing campaign.
This is the first time the company has marketed the product in over a decade, he said. The company's new ad taps into the nostalgia of eating this snack as a child, hoping to not only woo millennials who may have done so, but also their parents, who may have given them these snacks when they were younger and continue to be Sun-Maid's core customers.
Sun-Maid is also rebranding its sour raisin snacks, which were rolled out over a year ago and come in a mix of flavors such as watermelon, berry, and strawberry flavors. These golden raisins will relaunch in the spring.
The company is testing new snacks such as bars or snack packs with dried fruits and different types of nut butter. Overly said he is hoping that with more products in the company's arsenal, he will be able to drive $100 million growth over the next three to four years.
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