National Peanut Board Campaign

Making the Gold Standard

In 2008 there was a salmonella outbreak and peanut butter was found to be at fault. There was very little peanut butter effected by the outbreak, but sales plummetted. The public no longer trusted peanut butter and it hurt peanut farmers.

We were tasked with creating a public relations campaign that would address the negative influence of the outbreak, get out the right information and allow the National Peanut Board to regain trust with its consumers. Thus "Making the Gold Standard" was born.

Making the Gold Standard is about how great Peanuts can be. It's about creating an image of responsibility and perfection.

I personally developed the idea of celebrations on different Peanut themed holidays throughout the year. Here is a synopsis of the idea:

Celebrating Peanut Holidays

Throughout the course of the year there are certain holidays, which are peanut related. Depending on the day we are going to use them to help expand on the information that needed to be given to the public.

January 24 National Peanut Butter Day
- On January 24 peanut butter sandwiches will be handed out to homeless people throughout the New York City area. Peanut butter is something that is generally a staple at a homeless shelter. Peanut butter is relatively cheap and can be stored for a long time.
March 1-National Peanut Butter Lovers Day
- There will be a Peanut Butter Convention in Chicago, IL this day. It will allow for local businesses to come in and sell their peanut related products. It will allow for them to reach a larger market thus increasing their sales.
April 2 – National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
- Our target market for the event this day is going to be children and their families. In Minneapolis, MN we will be serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches off of food trucks for parents and their children around the city.
May 18 – I love Reese’s Day
- We will be handing out sample of different kinds of Reese’s peanut butter cups throughout the nation. We will distribute these through grocery stores.
June 12 – National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
- Partnering with Betty Crocker will allow us to help promote their brand while promoting peanuts. We can give out cookies and even have bakeries make their own version of peanut butter cookies.
September 13 – National Peanut Day
- This will be a big day for us to promote the golden peanut campaign and the idea that it is an American pastime to be able to have a bag of peanuts at a baseball game.
November 20 – National Peanut Butter Fudge Day
- The last celebratory day of the year we will promote in grocery stores for parents to making peanut butter fudge. We will work with producers to have coupons and discounts.

If you would like to read the whole campaign please click here