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Dive Brief:

• Lean Cuisine is launching its first advertising campaign in four years, seeking to cut through the clutter of better-for-you options in the freezer aisle, Marketing Dive can exclusively share.

• “You Have Good Taste” focuses on positivity, positioning the Nestlé-owned brand as an encouraging voice in a category known for guilt-tripping messaging. The motivational angle is illustrated in new ads where multi-hyphenate Regina Hall applauds consumers for picking Lean Cuisine when grocery shopping.

• Lean Cuisine worked with agency VML New York on the campaign, which begins appearing across TV, digital and social this month. The marketer aims to connect with a wide swath of consumers, including Gen Zers.

Dive Insight:

Lean Cuisine is coming out of a quiet period with a campaign that emphasizes humor and motivation, offering encouragement to consumers regardless of the choices they make. The goal is to further differentiate the over 40-year-old brand from health-oriented competitors in the freezer aisle and avoid a judgemental tone.

“You Have Good Taste” represents a substantial increase in marketing investment for the Nestlé label compared to recent years, though it declined to share specific figures. Lean Cuisine, which typically markets to women, said it is exploring several media channels to get the message out and trying to connect with cohorts like Gen Z.

The marketer joins other legacy packaged foods brands in shaking up messaging strategy to better appeal to young consumers who are maturing into greater spending power. Gen Zers have also gained a reputation for their willingness to more openly discuss mental health and self-image issues.

In the new Lean Cuisine ads, shoppers picking up Lean Cuisine at the store are taken aback when the freezer begins speaking to them in the voice of Regina Hall. The actor serves as a hype woman, praising their good taste and closing on a message of “flavorful, not calorie-full.” Hall was selected as spokesperson due to her sense of humor and support of body positivity, along with her well-known film and television roles.

“Eating right can be hard and losing weight is a struggle and this campaign reframes that thinking,” said Rosie Bardales, chief creative officer at agency partner VML New York, in a statement. “Lean Cuisine is on unabashedly positive voice through [Regina’s], and we hope that our consumers will think of her words when they head down the freezer aisle to a Lean Cuisine.”

The light-hearted approach marks a tonal shift from past Lean Cuisine marketing. A #WeighThis campaign from the mid-2010s used emotional storytelling as the brand ditched phrases like “dieting” in favor of a more general “wellbeing” positioning. In one tear-jerking video, a group of women approach a scale and are asked if they want to weigh themselves. Sentimental piano music kicks in as they skip the scale and instead describe personal accomplishments and cherished items, communicating that their weight doesn’t define them.   

Nestlé in September unveiled a plan to start selling more nutritious products and change up some of the marketing strategy behind its offerings in the space. The company previously estimated around 37% of its net sales come from health-oriented items when factoring out pet care and specialized nutrition goods.