RITZ Celebrates Cuisines, Traditions and Flavours of America for Holiday Campaign
Today, the RITZ brand, one of America's favourite crackers, launches its new holiday campaign titled ‘Our Holidays’ to celebrate the wide range of cuisines, traditions and flavours found across the holiday celebrations of culturally diverse families throughout the country. An extension of the brand's ‘A Taste of Welcome’ purpose platform, which aims to make the world a more welcoming place, RITZ is highlighting the powerful role food and traditions play in bringing people together for the holidays and beyond.
The multi-faceted campaign, which includes a collaboration with acclaimed chef Marcus Samuelsson and a showcase of holiday recipes from an array of immigrant families, kicks off with a new ad spot that shows culturally diverse families welcoming others as they celebrate their holidays. Evoking a sense of warmth and joy, the spot captures the essence of each celebration and the convivial atmosphere, all while spotlighting foods and recipes representative of each family’s cultural celebrations and how they naturally pair with a RITZ.
“Culturally distinct celebrations are often overlooked and underrepresented during the holiday season, so it was natural for us to leverage our Taste of Welcome values to shine a light on the diversity that defines this special time of year for families across America,” said Mayte Killeen, senior brand manager, RITZ. “Food is a powerful connector and is a pivotal vehicle for welcoming others in to share a piece of who we are and where we come from. The versatility of RITZ allows us to be part of so many holiday celebrations and we appreciate the role we can play in connecting people through our similarities.”
Ensuring authenticity of the cultures and celebrations depicted in the spot was paramount for RITZ and The Martin Agency, lead creative agency behind the campaign. Representation from each culture was incorporated into all aspects of the campaign and creative process, from pre-production, shoot and post process, and all talent celebrate the holidays in which they are featured. The spot will air nationally across broadcast and digital channels..
Complementing the television commercial, RITZ is releasing a limited-edition cookbook created in partnership with Samuelsson and Bon Appétit featuring stories and recipes from multiple immigrant families titled, A Taste of Welcome: A Celebration of Food and Culture. The cookbook, which was concepted by the brand’s media agency of record Spark Foundry and produced in collaboration with Bon Appétit, spotlights a diverse range of essential recipes that span holidays and cultures, including snacks, mains, sides and desserts, and showcases the versatility of RITZ crackers in these global recipes.
Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden before moving to the US to pursue his culinary career made Samuelsson is the ideal partner for this inclusive campaign. A champion of the role food can play in welcoming and bringing people together, he contributed two original recipes to the cookbook which will also be featured in the campaign content running during the holiday season.
“Our heritage inspires how we cook and the familiar flavours from one’s home country can be very powerful in connecting us, welcoming others and creating a sense of community where we all can belong,” said Marcus Samuelsson. “I’m proud to partner with RITZ Crackers and be part of a brand campaign that recognizes and celebrates culturally diverse families and the importance of diverse cuisine, tastes and flavours.”
Available this December, A Taste of Welcome: A Celebration of Food and Culture is designed to inspire home cooks to infuse their everyday cooking with global flavours and dishes, offer delicious recipe ideas, and give readers ways to incorporate RITZ crackers into their established and new holiday traditions. Consumers can visit TasteOfWelcome.com for more details and to order their own copy while supplies last.
Rounding out the holiday campaign is a custom video series produced and developed by Bon Appétit and Spark Foundry that takes viewers into the kitchens of three immigrant families living in California, Georgia and New York, representing culinary traditions from countries including the Philippines, Nigeria and Azerbaijan. In the three-part series, a Bon Appétit editor visits each family as they prepare for the holidays, getting to know their stories, touring their pantries to uncover the spices and flavours that define their cooking, and of course, cooking along with them as they prepare holiday recipes that make them feel at home. All three episodes can be viewed on Bon Appétit’s OTT channel and the Bon Appétit Video platform, with the first video available on October 21st.
