Pasture-raised egg company Vital Farms has certainly had some creative advertising in the past.
It seldom fails to promote attributes of pasture-raised eggs, at times even to the point of being disrespectful of conventionally raised eggs or cage-free eggs not laid by pasture-raised hens.
Not long ago, I heard a co-op style radio ad for regional restaurant chain Eggbert’s, and Vital Farms. Eggbert’s, which serves breakfast all day long, purchases eggs from Vital Farms.
The station I heard it on was KGGF, which has studios in Coffeyville, Kansas. I don’t live in KGGF’s regular listening area, but I often like to stream stations that I have heard while travelling in other areas. When camping with the family in southeast Kansas a few years back, I really liked how this station specialized in classic hits, but wasn’t afraid to throw in some deep cuts and mostly forgotten minor hits, so I stream it fairly often.
Eggbert’s has locations in the Kansas communities of Coffeyville, Independence and Caney, as well as the Oklahoma towns of Bartlesville and Claremore.
With that in mind, I at first thought it was odd that this small chain would be serving Vital Farms eggs. I get that Vital Farms has operations in nearby southwestern Missouri. But when I think of pasture-raised eggs, I first think that the producers are highlighting the perceived animal welfare aspect of their type of production. And typically in more rural and agriculturally based areas, specialty products like pasture-raised eggs aren’t in as high demand as they are in more urban areas.
Maybe I was misreading the folks who live there, I thought, so I asked a friend who grew up in an Eggbert’s town if people there were all that concerned about how their eggs were produced. The answer was that there were some who were, but those people aren’t necessarily the folks who eat at Eggbert’s.
Then I heard the ad again while streaming the station a few weeks later, and paid closer attention to what exactly was said. The person, presumably a spokesman for Vital Farms, didn't say disrespectful things about the welfare of other production methods. Instead, he highlighted the varied diets of Vital Farms hens, and how that diet, combined with not being confined to the same area, leads to a more distinct flavor and color of the eggs.
That, to me, made more sense for this particular target audience.
I’ve never done a comparison so I don’t know how valid those claims were, but I was impressed, and a little surprised, with the fact that he didn’t waste words on certain aspects of Vital Farms and instead focused on what all Eggbert’s customers would likely care about, which is taste, and to a lesser degree, appearance.
When limited by time as you are in a 30- or 60-second radio spot, poultry marketers have to make every word count, and Vital Farms seemed to do a pretty good job in doing just that.
