Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/375622
Next Up… Kind continues to seek ways to innovate with cam- paigns that hold true to the company's mission and values. "We want to provide healthy snacks that make people's lives better, whether by helping them fight obesity and diabetes, giving them more fulfillment and enjoyment, or inspiring them to treat others with respect and kindness every day," Lanning says. But the bigger picture gives way to a bolder goal. "We want to reinvent the way people see business. The goal is to have people loving Kind not just because it nourishes their bodies but also their souls. It's about creating a community so that each person feels part of something greater." proposition for which the consumer is looking." The biggest challenge, Lanning says, is finding new ways to fulfill that value proposition authentically. "The Kind Movement is our social mission—it's intrinsically connected to who we are as a company." But, she notes, the idea of cause marketing gives her pause. "It can easily become a gimmicky thing that companies do— attaching themselves to a trend." The companies that succeed are the ones with an authentic mission, not those with sporadic cause- marketing campaigns. Measuring success… Kind determines the impact of its Kind Movement initiative in several ways: the number of causes they've supported through Kind Causes (nine), how many Strong & Kind pledges have been made (the current target is 1 million), and how many kind acts the team has helped facilitate—some 587,000 #kindawesome cards have been distributed. "We also strive to dig deeper and examine the personal experiences the movement has helped create," Lanning adds. "I am always most drawn to stories from everyday people who have been touched by kindness either directly by the Kind team or indirectly by one of our partners." She recalls the story of a Boston woman who came across Kind's f lower wall, a roving installation in which locals can receive a Kind bar for themselves and a f lower to give away—to a friend, loved one, or complete stranger—as an act of kindness. The woman "wrote us on Facebook to say it was the anniversary of her sister and best friend's passings and that the exchange with our team that morning made her feel it was a message from them that they were OK," Lanning says. "We then did some internet sleuthing to find where she worked and showed up with a full bouquet of f lowers to let her know we were supporting her, and it was an emotional exchange full of tears—but one of those moments where you stop and feel grateful to work with a company with such meaning." A team effort… To make it all work, "different parts of our organization help bring the movement to life," Lanning notes. Kind's field team is on the ground nationally, seeking new ways to facilitate kindness in each community, from the flower wall to other city- specific engagements. One recent event in Boston called for residents to submit ideas for acts of kindness; for every idea, Kind is donating one piece of sporting equipment to inner-city youth via the Red Sox Foundation. At the company's headquarters in New York City, the Kind team lives the message behind the movement through volunteer efforts. "A few weeks ago we had Together We Rise—a previous Kind Causes winner—in the office. The team helped decorate and pack suitcases for foster kids." Social media plays a role as well, with the Kind community sharing good deeds in their daily lives with the #kindawesome hashtag. The company launched Strong & Kind, a program created to redefne cultural perceptions of strength and kindness, with a particular focus on teenage boys. Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. Basketball player Kevin Durant talks with students about the Strong & Kind pledge. FALL 2014 79