Michigan Sugar has partnered with Kroger to create a new advertisement highlighting the partnership between the companies and showcasing Michigan sugarbeet farmers.
The idea originated during the annual meeting of the Michigan Ag Council, which is made up of commodity groups and agribusinesses working together to raise awareness about food and agriculture. They work to highlight Michigan commodities, agricultural practices and farm families.
Both Michigan Sugar and Kroger are on the council and have been partnered for many years, Michigan Sugar's Ag Relations and Communications Manager Elizabeth Taylor said. Their mutual mission on the council naturally led to Taylor and Cameron Barrett, corporate affairs manager of Kroger's Michigan Division, to come up with the concept for the ad.
"When you align our mission with Kroger's mission, it aligns together really well," Taylor said.
The ad is a simple two-and-a-half minute video that portrays the Bauers, a Michigan family that farms sugarbeets on Laracha Farms in Reese.
"I don't want to use anybody who wasn't an actual sugarbeet farmer, so the point was to feature one of our sugarbeet families," Taylor said.
Adam Bauer, his wife Katie and their children Harper, Piper and Cash work hard to harvest the sugarbeets that go from the field to the table. The video takes the viewer on that journey, with commentary from both Taylor and Adam.
"We have a Kroger that's just a few miles away, and to know that you're part of it, it's very neat," Bauer said in the ad. "Very few people can walk into a store and say, 'Hey, I helped put this on the shelf.'"
The video was shot in three stages with the help of Jeremy Browe, lead producer and director for Kroger Studios. They shot the harvest footage at Laracha Farms in late October, when the sugarbeet harvest was taking place. Crews filmed the interviews and "B-roll" over Thanksgiving, and the last bit of footage was shot at the Frankenmuth Kroger in December.
Taylor added Kroger Studios is putting the finishing touches on the ad and it could hit the airwaves as soon as mid-January.