AUSTIN, Texas (Oct. 20, 2014) –Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) launches its first national brand campaign today to highlight its groundbreaking quality standards, healthy offerings and key milestones as a pioneer in the natural and organic food industry. By communicating the company’s deeper purpose and its history of celebrating food and the people who produce it, the multichannel advertising initiative will demonstrate the values of “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.”
At the helm of the new campaign is seasoned marketing leader Jeannine D’Addario, Whole Foods Market’s new global vice president of communications. She joined Whole Foods Market in August from Stanford Children’s Health, where she served as vice president and chief marketing officer. D’Addario also previously served as vice president of marketing for infant, toddler and preschool brands at the Walt Disney Company.
“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. “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.”
Using the theme “Values Matter” primarily in television, print and digital advertisements, Whole Foods Market will explain the origin and impact of its products and the standards behind them. This manifesto appears throughout the campaign:
Values Matter
We are hungrier for better than we ever realized.
We want to know where our food comes from.
We care what happens to it along the way.
We want to trust our sources.
We want people, and animals, and the places our food comes from to be treated fairly.
The time is ripe to champion the way food is grown,
and raised,
and caught…
So it’s good for us…
and for the greater good too.
This is where it all comes to fruition…
Where values matter.
The company partnered with New York-based Partners & Spade to develop the creative approach. Headlines such as “The Highest Standards Weren’t Available, So We Created Them,” tout Whole Foods Market’s milestones in developing its signature standards and ratings programs. Sustainable seafood standards, animal welfare ratings, and its new “Responsibly Grown” produce ratings program are the topics of authentic, documentary-style TV spots that were directed by notable commercial filmmaker Gerard de Thame and feature supplier partners –including farmers, ranchers and fishermen– along with Whole Foods Market customers and team members.
“We believe Whole Foods Market has raised the level of food consciousness more than any other retailer, and it is certainly one of the most genuine, transparent companies out there,” said Anthony Sperduti, co-founder and creative director at Partners & Spade. “Helping craft Whole Foods Market’s first national conversation about its philosophy and vision has been some of our team’s most meaningful work because it’s bigger than just commerce: it’s a wake-up call for how to treat ourselves, each other and the planet.”
Austin-based GSD&M was selected as the partner to handle media strategy and placement, which includes spots during prime time television shows including “Modern Family,” “Scandal” and “The Voice,” on late night favorites such as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “Saturday Night Live,” as well as during the World Series and NFL football. Ads will also appear in business, food, health, and lifestyle outlets, both print and digital.
Whole Foods Market has been recognized by many organizations over the years for its work in creating industry-leading standards. For example, Greenpeace ranked it as the No. 1 retailer for seafood sustainability, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics named it the leading national retailer for personal care product safety, and Ethisphere chose it as one of the world’s most ethical companies. Additionally, the company was the first certified organic national grocer in the United States and was the only retailer named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” by Health magazine.
“Not everyone knows what makes Whole Foods Market different from other grocers, or the fact that no other retailer has standards as demanding or as transparent as ours,” D’Addario said. “This campaign will distinguish what makes our brand special, our food different and our quality superior. It’s our opportunity to reaffirm our unwavering commitments to our core values, which are at the heart of our brand.”
To complement the campaign launch, Whole Foods Market created wfm.com/valuesmatter to present visitors with more transparency and information through videos, supplier partner stories, product profiles and team member testimonials. The company invites consumers to visit the new site and take a brief survey called “What Do You Value?” to share what matters most to them. By ranking a list of categories including healthy food, animal welfare, supporting local farms and producers, responsibly grown produce and sustainable seafood, participants will help shape the company’s future community-giving days, store experiences and product offerings.
Reporter and editor’s note:
Creative assets and additional information can be found at https://wmn-live.frb.io/press/values-matter-brand-campaign.
Additional Leadership Quotes About Whole Foods Market’s First-Ever Brand Campaign
Walter Robb, Co-CEO
“We chose 'Values Matter' as the foundation for our new national brand campaign because it reflects our core values, which guide us to always strive to take thoughtful leadership positions on how to improve our food supply and to continually raise industry standards. We believe it affirms and supports that value and values show up together in our offerings at Whole Foods Market.”
John Mackey, Co-CEO and Co-Founder
“We founded Whole Foods Market as a group of young people who had a deep sense of purpose and a mission to make a difference. It came from a very visceral desire to offer natural, organic and healthy, fresh food with a clear set of standards. We had no idea then the difference it could make. Now, 35 years later we are ‘Americas Healthiest Grocery Store’ and we’re excited to demonstrate that with this first-ever national ad campaign and with the work we do in our local and global communities.”
A.C. Gallo, President and COO
“Our team of buyers are passionate about sourcing only the highest quality products, and our team of quality standards experts is constantly pushing the envelope to influence the way food is grown, processed, marketed and regulated. We are always improving, evolving and enhancing our standards to stake our claim as the industry leader. This campaign helps tell that story in an authentic, transparent way.”
