Hillshire farms

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Topic : Case Study: Hillshire Farms  https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=%2Fcourses%2F1019680%2Fitems%2FKE1170-PDF-ENG%2Fcontent&metadata=e30%3DFor case study assignments, you will write an APA (7th edition) research paper with your analysis of the
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marketingMarketing Management

KE1170

October 19, 2020

N E A L J . R O E S E A N D J O H N P AV L U S

The Hillshire Farm Brand:
Growth Opportunities in Snacking

Megan Huddleston sat at her desk in Te Hillshire Brands Company’s* corporate headquarters
in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, staring at her mid-afternoon snack: vanilla-favored Greek
yogurt. It was the fall of 2013, and everyone seemed to be eating this stuf—over the past year,
Greek yogurt had become a full-blown craze.1 As a marketing director for Te Hillshire Brands
Co., Huddleston knew why: Compared to other high-protein snacks such as jerky and nuts, “fresh”
foods like yogurt were trending upward, especially among millennials.2 Personally, Huddleston did
not quite see the appeal; a tub of white glop was not exactly convenient to toss in a bag on the
way out the door. But she did know that Hillshire Brands needed to fnd a way to capitalize on the
momentum surrounding protein snacking—and soon.

Te Hillshire Brands Co. was the home of the Hillshire Farm brand, the well-known brand
of supermarket lunchmeat, smoked sausage, and cocktail links. But growth had recently stalled
in two of those categories.3 Between 2012 and 2013, competitors such as Hormel and Oscar
Mayer had launched new high-protein products (REV brand meat and cheese wraps and larger-
portion Lunchables Uploaded, respectively) aimed at keeping overscheduled teenagers satisfed
between meals.4 Overall, American snacking habits were dominated by fresh fruit, cookies, and
a hodgepodge of portable options like cheese, crackers, pretzels, and nuts. Existing meat-based
protein options, such as jerky, accounted for just 0.5% of personal snacking behavior.5 With trends
pointing to a general softening of consumer spending on packaged foods in the near future,6 new
growth opportunities for Hillshire Brands were urgently needed.

* Tyson Foods acquired Te Hillshire Brands Co. in July 2014.
©2020 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Tis case was prepared by Professor Neal
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To secure that growth, Huddleston knew, Hillshire Brands had to appeal to the millennial
mindset around snacking, freshness, and convenience.7 But could the Hillshire Farm brand be
leveraged to make this appeal, or would entirely new brands be needed to serve these emerging
consumer trends? If the Hillshire Farm brand were used, what would be the best path forward for
brand extension?

Company Background
In 1926, a 22-year-old Austrian butcher named Fritz Bernegger immigrated to the United

States with his wife, Armella, fnding work in the Wisconsin meat industry. In 1934, the
Berneggers settled in New London, Wisconsin, and founded a business comprising three stores
and a slaughterhouse. By 1938 they had added a full-service meatpacking facility called Quality
Packing House on a one-acre family farm8 (the “farm” in the company’s later branding), which
supplied handcrafted meat and sausages to the Berneggers’ retail stores.

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In 1954, the Berneggers divested themselves of their retail operations and incorporated the
meatpacking plant as their core business, renaming it Hillshire Meat Products. In 1971, Hillshire
Meat Products merged with Consolidated Foods—later known as the Sara Lee Corporation—
and changed the company’s name again, to Hillshire Farm. Te frst Hillshire Farm television
advertisements (showing the company’s “horse and buggy” logo) appeared in 1978. Te frm
employed more than 900 people and produced more than 3 million pounds of meat per week.10

In 1983, the frm launched what would become one of the company’s most iconic and category-
defning products: “Lit’l Smokies” brand cocktail sausage links.

Over the subsequent two decades, Hillshire Farm launched additional products in the smoked
sausage and premium lunchmeat categories. In 2002, the company partnered with Gladware to
invent and launch a new lunchmeat packaging concept: rigid, resealable plastic containers.11 In
2009, Hillshire Farm further reinforced the premium association with its brand by redesigning its
logo, ditching the horse and buggy for a slightly abstracted image of a barn and silo (see Exhibit 1).
And in 2012, the Sara Lee Corporation spun of Hillshire Farm and its other branded protein
businesses as an independent “meat-centric” corporation, renamed Te Hillshire Brands Co.

Product Portfolio

Te Hillshire Farm brand ofered products in multiple categories (see Figure 1):

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Figure 1: The Hillshire Farm Brand’s Product Offerings

Premium Lunchmeat:

• Product lines: 40

• Revenue: $504 million

• Key offerings: ultra-thin, thick-sliced, and lower-
sodium varieties of turkey, ham, chicken, roast
beef, and pastrami

Premium Sausage Ropes and Links:

• Product lines: 31

• Revenue: $414 million

• Key offerings: (smoked) pork, beef, turkey
sausage, polska kielbasa, bratwurst, and hot dogs

Cocktail Sausages:

• Product lines: 31

• Revenue: $138 million

• Key offerings: Lit’l Smokies, Lit’l Wieners, and
Lit’l Polskas

Other:

• Summer sausage (3 products)

• Cooked hams (9 products)

Source: Hillshire Farm website, archived version from September 2013, accessed February 2020, https://web.archive.org/
web/20130903155238/http://www.hillshirefarm.com/products.

Brand Strategy

Te Hillshire Farm brand aimed at a target customer it called the “Conficted Stressed
Manager”12—someone struggling to satisfy opposing values or options regarding food, who might
also be in charge of feeding others. In terms of demographic characteristics, this target customer

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skewed toward being female, married, and a member of Generation X. Psychologically, this target
was the sort of person who was striving to eat healthily without sacrifcing taste; focusing on
fresh and healthy food while relying on mainstream brands; and enjoying new ideas encountered
in cookbooks and cooking shows but appreciating the familiar. Overall, the Conficted Stressed
Manager was open to new ideas but comfortable with established brands.

In earlier years, the Hillshire Farm brand was positioned mainly along functional lines.13 Key
benefts of the brand included quality (slow, traditional, and human versus fast, efcient, and
mechanized), convenience (products whose preparation could be accomplished simply and quickly,
such as pre-cooked sausages), and great favor (as compared to other, less premium products). More
recently, however, the Hillshire Farm brand had begun to emphasize psychological value as part of
its positioning, specifcally regarding the idea of “assurance.”14 Tis approach explicitly highlighted
emotional appeal beyond mere utility, using language such as “taste done right,” “generations of
care and craftsmanship,” and “time-tested recipes.”

“Hillshire” Premium Branding

Hillshire Brands recently had completed the development of an experimental new brand
identity called “Hillshire”—sometimes referred to internally as “Hillshire Black” because of its
black, monochromatic visual identity (see Exhibit 2). Tis new brand concept, not yet launched,
originally was designed to help Hillshire Brands research home meal–replacement products
(that is, nutritious meals that were refrigerated or fash-frozen without extra preservatives). Te
brand concept was specifcally targeted at younger, millennial consumers seeking freshness and
innovation. Moreover, the brand added psychological value by injecting a “narrative” to food
products. Internal research suggested that “[p]eople seek food they can connect with. Often in
response to the tyranny of choice (perhaps best refected by the immensity and dizzying abundance
of the American supermarket), people yearn for food with a story.”15 Exactly how this story might
unfold for the brand had yet to be determined.

Te Hillshire Black brand was developed without an existing product or specifc category
attached to it. However, it did take aim at a new target customer: the “Upbeat Food Explorer.”1

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In sharp contrast to the Conficted Stressed Manager, this new target customer was described as
adventurous and social in their approach to cooking and eating; satisfed with their current health,
weight, lifestyle, and income (literally using the phrase “I wouldn’t change a thing”); and skewing
toward the millennial, male, and married or partnered demographic segments.17 Upbeat Food
Explorers saw themselves as “connoisseurs” of food and drink, seeking the best or most interesting
options available, rather than being motivated by utility.

Given this target customer, the brand’s value propositions were primarily psychological. It
was aimed at “inspiring curiosity” and designed to “embody a rich sense of story and experience.”
Customers encountering it were intended to assume that the associated product(s) were “made
mindfully.”18 Of key importance:, the Hillshire Black brand was intended to occupy a higher price
point, or a more premium market position, than the Hillshire Farm brand.

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Competitive Landscape
Te Hillshire Farm brand was worth more than $1 billion in sales across its three primary

product categories: premium lunchmeat ($504 million); premium sausage ropes and links ($414
million); and cocktail sausages ($138 million).19 Te Hillshire Farm brand dominated the latter
two categories, capturing 23% and 69%, respectively, of total US market share. Te brand captured
only 8% of the premium lunchmeat category, with Oscar Mayer dominating the US market at a
32% share.

See Table 1 for more details on the Hillshire Farm brand’s market share and competition.

Table 1: Competitive Landscape

Market Share

PREMIUM LUNCHMEAT

Oscar Mayer 32%

Hillshire Farm 8%

Value competitors (Hormel, Buddig, Land O Frost) <8% each

Applegate <2%

PREMIUM SAUSAGE ROPE & LINKS

Hillshire Farm 23%

Johnsonville 16%

Eckrich 11%

Private labels 6%

COCKTAIL SAUSAGES

Hillshire Farm 69%

Bryan 6%

Eckrich 6%

All others <5% each

Given the highly seasonal sales pattern for cocktail sausages (pegged to Tanksgiving,
Christmas, and Super Bowl Sunday), premium lunchmeat and sausage products made up the bulk
of Hillshire Farm brand’s sales (47% and 39%, respectively). But recent sales in those categories
were not as promising as had been hoped; lunchmeat sales had declined by 0.8% over the past
year, and smoked sausage rope sales had increased by only 1% during the same period.20

Consumption Trends among Americans
Meanwhile, market research showed that consumer eating habits were trending toward

snacking instead of the prepared meals in which lunchmeat and sausage had traditionally enjoyed

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prominence.21 Nearly 94% of Americans snacked every day, with 65% snacking at least twice a
day. Younger generations were shifting away from predetermined mealtimes and toward all-day
“grazing” on smaller, snack-sized food products or portions.

Several factors were driving these trends toward snacking.22 Eating smaller portions refected a
desire among consumers to eat healthier; 46% of consumers reported eating smaller meals than in
the previous fve years. Snackable foods were also becoming ubiquitously available to consumers
from multiple locations throughout their daily routines, from convenience stores, food trucks,
fresh-food vending machines, drugstores, as well as traditional grocery retailers. Finally, a desire
for curiosity and fun around food naturally encouraged snacking by providing an opportunity to
try new foods with low risk in terms of time, money, and perceived health impact (i.e., calories).

Hillshire Brands commissioned a study from an external industry partner to investigate
snacking trends in greater depth.23 Te research revealed that the total snacking market (in-home
or via portable products) was worth around $50 billion and was forecast to grow 2.6% annually
in the coming years.24 Te report also found that snacking behaviors were diferentiated (in terms
of category, snack type, and favor) depending on the time of day; morning and evening snacking
tended toward sweet favors, whereas afternoon snacking included both sweet and savory favors.
A key attribute favored across usage occasions was convenience, as consumers were gravitating
toward snack foods that required little or no preparation, were ready to eat within 30 seconds, and
could be eaten cold or at room temperature. Such convenient foods could be located in shelf-stable
or refrigerated sections of stores. A key component of the study was the delineation of snacking
behavior into “domains” that diferentiated mainly on the basis of time of day. Te study identifed
fve domains as growth opportunities.

Naturally Nutritious

Comprising mostly fruit (83%) and yogurt (16%), this domain accounted for 18% of total
consumer snacking behavior, and $9.5 billion in sales, over the previous fve years. Te domain
was growing at a rate of 1.5% annually, which was greater than the average rate of growth for all
snacking domains. Demographically, the domain described health-conscious female consumers
(with a slight skew toward older women) who wanted a nutritious portable morning snack
to eat alone. Te fruit rollups and yogurt categories were growing at 8% and 6.4% annually,
respectively—but the Greek yogurt trend was showing signs of decay, with sales growth slowing by
nearly 50% in 2012 and 2013.25

Evening Routine

Tis domain accounted for 23% of snacking occasions and $12 billion in sales and included ice
cream and novelties (55% of the domain), popcorn (23%), cakes, and pies. Te typical consumer
in this domain shared snacks with family and/or friends in the evening. Popcorn in particular
was becoming trendier and was beginning to make appeals to curiosity-seeking consumers by
incorporating favors from Morocco, Tailand, or Vietnam.26 However, annual growth in the
overall evening routine domain was shrinking by 1% annually.

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Morning Carbs

Te product categories in this domain (donuts, bagels, and mufns) ofered a high convenience
factor: Tey were all shelf stable, required low or medium preparation (ready to eat in two
minutes or less), and most could be consumed at room temperature. In 2013, the “cronut” (a
faky, croissant-like donut) went viral, spreading in popularity from New York City across the
globe in a matter of months.27 At the same time, carbs in general were “out,” trend-wise, and
high-protein diets were peaking in popularity (the “Paleo diet” was the most Googled diet of
2013).28 Some scientists also began investigating whether people could become literally addicted
to carbs, “potentially fuel[ing] overeating.”29 Te Morning Carbs snacking domain was also one of
the smallest of the fve, comprising 4% of eating occasions. Nevertheless, spurred in part by a wide
variety of oferings, as well as by competitive innovation, the domain was expected to grow by at
least 2% annually in the coming years.

Versatile All Day

Te largest domain in the snacking landscape (comprising 28% of eating occasions and $14.7
billion in sales) included candy, gum, pretzels, crackers, nuts, cheese, and bars. Tis domain’s
growth was forecast at around 0.5%. What united this grab-bag of product categories was
convenience: all were consumable at room temperature; almost all were low preparation (i.e., ready
to eat “as-is,” with no assembly required, within 30 seconds of opening the package); and most
were shelf-stable or refrigerated. Protein-containing product categories like nuts and cheese were
growing at nearly 3% per year, triple the average annual growth rate of snacking as a whole. Te
typical consumer of this snack domain was single and slightly more afuent than average and was
roughly evenly represented along other demographic dimensions (age, life stage, and gender). Of
the product categories in this domain, 39% were carb-heavy (cereal, crackers, breads, pretzels, and
non-protein sandwiches), and 35% were less healthy (candy and gum).

Savory/Filling

Tis domain represented 12% of total snacking behaviors, accounted for $6 billion in sales,
and included chips, ready-to-heat options like pizza and soup, as well as meat snacks such as
jerky, hot dogs, burgers, and lunchmeat combos. Te domain was growing at the same rate as the
overall snack market, about 1% annually. Jerky was one of the fastest-growing categories, with
$1 billion in sales over the previous year. Chips were the largest product category in this domain,
accounting for 60% of eating occasions. Refrigerated lunchmeat combos (kid-friendly boxed
snacks typically ofering lunchmeat, crackers, cheese, and sometimes a sweet) were growing faster
over the previous year than dried meat snacks, at 13% versus 8%.30 Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables
product founded the refrigerated combos category and dominated it (80% of sales, creating “a sea
of yellow”31 packaging in the refrigerated lunchmeat section of grocery stores). Refrigerated combo
brands with “real food”/“quality” value propositions (e.g., Hormel’s REV meat and cheese wraps)
accounted for fewer than 5% of sales in this category.32 Tis snacking domain had more product
categories requiring relatively high levels of preparation (multi-step assembly; cutting/slicing and

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plating, possibly heating required; at least two minutes before ready for consumption). However,
jerky and refrigerated combos appealed to convenience seekers by fulflling a consumer need called
“easy protein routine”: high-protein, routinely eaten snacks requiring no preparation.

Path Forward
Armed with extensive market research and a new in-house brand (Hillshire Black) waiting for

deployment, Megan Huddleston pondered several options to bring new growth to the Hillshire
Brands suite of oferings.

1. Te frst option was to bypass the use of either the Hillshire Farm brand or the Hillshire Black
brand and instead to create an entirely new brand (or brands) to meet the needs of one or
more of the fve snacking described in the study. Te key beneft of developing a new brand
was that the blank-slate status permitted the brand design to be tailored precisely to the needs
of the new category. Te downside was that building a new brand would be costly and time-
consuming.

2. Te second option was to use the Hillshire Farm brand to extend into one or more of the fve
snacking domains. Te Hillshire Farm brand had the beneft of high brand awareness and a
solid track record that spanned decades. Te downside was the challenge of integrating a new
product category into the existing brand image.

3. Te third option was to use the Hillshire Black brand to extend into one or more of the fve
snacking domains. Hillshire Black had the beneft of an already-completed brand design, but
the downside was that it had not yet been deployed in the market and thus had experienced
no brand awareness.

At the same time, Huddleston also needed to decide into which of the fve domains of snacking
(Naturally Nutritious, Evening Routine, Morning Carbs, Versatile All Day, Savory/Filling) to
move. All fve fell easily within the product-innovation capabilities of her frm. Te question was
how best to leverage the existing portfolio that comprised Hillshire Brands.

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Exhibit 1: Hillshire Farm Logo Redesign, 2009

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Exhibit 2: Hillshire Black Brand Design

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Exhibit 2 (continued)

Source: Tyson internal documents.

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Endnotes
1 Sarah E. Needleman, “Old Factory, Snap Decision Spawn Greek-Yogurt Craze,” Wall Street Journal, June 20,

2012.
2 “Five Consumer Trends Shaping the Future of the Food and Foodservice Industries,” press release, May 7, 2015,

https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2015/fve-consumer-trends-shaping-the-future-
of-the-food-and-foodservice-industries.

3 Tyson Foods internal documents.
4 Erin Mosbaugh, “Kraft Makes a Killing Selling ‘Uploaded’ Lunchables to Teens,” First We Feast, May 20,

2014, https://frstwefeast.com/eat/2014/05/kraft-makes-a-fortune-selling-new-uploaded-lunchables-to-teens;
“Hormel Foods Energizes the Protein-Based Snack Category with the Launch of Hormel® REV® Wraps,” press
release, July 17, 2013, https://www.hormelfoods.com/newsroom/press-releases/hormel-foods-energizes-the-
protein-based-snack-category-with-the-launch-of-hormel-rev-wraps.

5 External industry partner report, “Hillshire Brands—World of Snacking,” February 5, 2013.
6 Jacob Bunge and Annie Gasparro, “Hillshire Brands to Buy Pinnacle Foods for $4.3 Billion,” Wall Street

Journal, May 12, 2014.
7 Tyson Foods internal documents.
8 Hillshire Farm, “Our Story,” accessed February 2020, https://www.hillshirefarm.com/our-story.
9 “Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, accessed February 2020,

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/Meat_HOF/1994/bernegger.htm.
10 Ibid.
11 Sam Gazdziak, “Turning to Tubs,” National Provisioner, April 1, 2005, https://www.provisioneronline.com/

articles/94569-turning-to-tubs-1.
12 Hillshire Farm website, archived version from September 2013, accessed February 2020,

https://web.archive.org/web/20130903155238/http://www.hillshirefarm.com/products.
13 Tyson Foods internal documents.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Sullivan Higdon & Sink FoodTink whitepaper, “Snacker Nation,” 2014; Te Hartman Group, “Modern

Eating Occasions,” 2013.
23 Unless otherwise cited, fndings in this section are from an external industry partner report, “Hillshire Brands—

World of Snacking,” February 5, 2013.
24 Hillshire Brands Co. Form 8-K submitted to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, September 3, 2013.
25 Venessa Wong, “As Greek Yogurt Growth Slows, Chobani Turns To Sriracha,” BuzzFeed News, December 14,

2015, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/venessawong/as-greek-yogurt-growth-slows-chobani-turns-to-
sriracha.

26 “Popcorn: A Hot Trend for 2013,” Candy & Snack Today, November/December 2012, 18.
27 Catherine Zuckerman, “Te Cronut Craze Goes Global,” National Geographic, August 19, 2013.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130819-cronut-pastry-croissant-doughnut-food.

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/8/130819-cronut-pastry-croissant-doughnut-food

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/venessawong/as-greek-yogurt-growth-slows-chobani-turns-to

https://web.archive.org/web/20130903155238/http://www.hillshirefarm.com/products

https://www.provisioneronline.com

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/Meat_HOF/1994/bernegger.htm

https://www.hillshirefarm.com/our-story

https://www.hormelfoods.com/newsroom/press-releases/hormel-foods-energizes-the

https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2014/05/kraft-makes-a-fortune-selling-new-uploaded-lunchables-to-teens

https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2015/five-consumer-trends-shaping-the-future

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H I L L S H I R E F A R M : G R O W T H O P P O R T U N I T I E S I N S N A C K I N G KE1170

K E L L O G G S C H O O L O F M A N A G E M E N T

28 Eliza Barclay, “Was 2013 Really the Year of the Paleo Diet?” NPR, December 30, 2013, https://www.npr.org/
sections/thesalt/2013/12/27/257669972/was-2013-really-the-year-of-the-paleo-diet.

29 Allison Aubrey, “Can You Be Addicted To Carbs? Scientists Are Checking Tat Out,” NPR, June 26, 2013,
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/06/26/195292850/can-you-be-addicted-to-carbs-scientists-are-
checking-that-out.

30 Tyson Foods internal documents.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.

For the exclusive use of T. Fraley, 2023.

This document is authorized for use only by Tajah Fraley in MBA5161 Spring 2023OL – A taught by VALERIE KING, Cumberland University from Jan 2023 to Mar 2023.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/06/26/195292850/can-you-be-addicted-to-carbs-scientists-are

https://www.npr.org

• The Hillshire Farm Brand: Growth Opportunities in Snacking

Company Background

Product Portfolio

Brand Strategy

“Hillshire” Premium Branding

Competitive Landscape

Consumption Trends among Americans

Naturally Nutritious

Evening Routine

Morning Carbs

Versatile All Day

Savory/Filling

Path Forward

Exhibit 1: Hillshire Farm Logo Redesign, 2009

Exhibit 2: Hillshire Black Brand Design

Endnotes