A report that represents
changing families

Starting a conversation that matters

Betty Crocker needed to be more relevant to modern consumers and connect with them on a level that went beyond cake mixes and cookbooks. They had an incredible presence as a source of comfort and a sense of family — so how could they be part of a conversation that changed the way people thought about the brand — and maybe even themselves?

The first step was convincing the brand to go beyond communications by conducting cultural research. The brand came to us thinking they wanted to create a campaign, but we were able to show them that without credibility and the research to say something truly meaningful, their communications wouldn’t make the impact they were looking for.

Once we’d done that, we orchestrated a research study to learn about the new definitions of the American family. And what we found wasn’t at all what we expected.

We’d gone into it thinking we’d find that people were largely dissatisfied with their family life – that they yearned for an earlier time and felt that the changing American family was a liability, not an asset. We’d prepared, then, to create optimistic messages about the future, and tools to help people overcome the issues that were pushing them apart.

But what we discovered was a far different, and pretty amazing. Sure, there was some nostalgia for nuclear husband-wife-children units and the simplicity of an earlier time, but, for the most part, people were happy to be part of family groups that were more welcoming of change. People were spending more time together than ever before, redefining their family groups for themselves, and leading more joyful lives because of it.

We created a report from the results that shared our key conclusions in the context of other institutional research, as well as a digital hub that broke it down and made it easily consumable.

I wrote all the copy for the report and the related microsite, in addition to helping with creative concepts and real-world activations — including the following year’s photo booth and baking demo at Twin Cities Pride.