Seasoned marketing veteran Jay Black understands the benefits of authentic storytelling to connect with consumers.
So when Black joined cookware brand Lodge Cast Iron as chief marketing officer last fall, his mission was to lean into the heritage of the 130 year-old brand to create story lines relatable to today’s audiences.
“People love cast iron,” says Black. “The tailwinds for cast iron right now are tremendous. It’s non-toxic, American-made, endurable and sustainable. But people don’t always understand how versatile it is –from campfire to stove top to the barbecue grill to the oven.”
The company recently made the strategic decision to significantly increase their media investment in order to grow the overall awareness of the versatility of cast iron and the Lodge brand’s penetration in the category. This has shown up as partnerships with Dolly Parton and the Paramount series Yellowstone.
“We want to be in all households across America,” says Black. “Our personality comes through loud and clear. It’s blending those two aspects of the functional attributes of our brand, alongside with our personality and being very approachable. That’s why we have such an enthusiastic fan base.”
Prior to joining Lodge, Black senior leadership roles at Maui Jim Sunglasses, Beam Suntory, Anheuser-Busch InBev. Brand Innovators caught up with Black from his office in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee to discuss how the brand is showing up in culture and how they are reaching young home buyers. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lodge is a 130 year old brand. How are you bringing the heritage of your brand to life but keeping it modern for today’s consumer?
Heritage is incredibly important. Today’s consumers want authentic brands and when you say we’ve been around for 130 years in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee that really comes through. It’s long lasting. It’s durable. It comes through in our products. From a creative standpoint, we leverage those approachable emotive moments that are in the kitchen. It comes through with the cast iron pan or skillet that you use. You can tell it’s durable, but it’s also versatile across all different occasions.
Can you talk about the recent partnership you did with Dolly Parton?
Dolly’s awesome. Tennessee is our home. It’s home for her. She grew up in the Smoky Mountains area and we’re not too far from there. It’s a natural connection. And she has such an approachable personality in everything that she does. And she loves to cook and she cooks on cast iron. So just her music and how inspirational and approachable it is connected with us from a personality standpoint. Our audience loves Dolly and Dolly’s audiences love Lodge. So it was just a natural connection.
But at the same time, it’s also an opportunity for us to expand the audience that we’re speaking to, because it branches out to people that did not necessarily know about Lodge. There’s that interconnection. It’s authentic and that’s everything that we look for in our collaborations. It has to be authentic because it ties back to something that’s so near and dear to everything we do here at Lodge.
Can you talk about why having cultural partnerships is important for your company?
Cultural partnerships are important for us because we meet consumers where they’re at. It establishes that emotive connection and cuts through the noise of advertising. Because when we come through, again, referring back to the point of authenticity, that’s how we want to connect with new consumers. And these cultural partnerships, whether it be through Dolly, through her music and personality to Yellowstone, to a very natural setting for cast iron, outdoor lifestyle, cooking on campfires.
That was a very big passionate audience that we authentically were able to connect with. We even go beyond that to holidays like Day of the Dead, where there’s a cultural relevance that we can connect with through authentic artist renditions that we can use in our castings and come through in a meaningful way to consumers.
Tell me who your target is and then how you’re reaching them.
We have a very passionate and loyal consumer base, but we have an opportunity to grow. Most of our consumers are introduced to cast iron through friends and family, or it’s either passed down through generations. We have an opportunity to focus on Gen Z consumers who love to cook. The older segment of the Gen Z are starting to buy their own homes. The kitchen is the heartbeat of your home. You want to create those moments and occasions where you have your family and your friends over.
We want to communicate that cast iron can be a part of those moments year after year. We’re durable, we’re non-toxic, and we’re a part of building a home together. Our target consumer is people who don’t know about cast iron, but also the younger consumer that’s really coming into the fold of exploring cooking options. We know that these trends in the marketplace around non-toxic cookware are playing through in all these decisions that consumers are making.
How are you working with retail partners to go from consideration to point of sale?
A lot of it is brand communication and highlighting the differences of cast iron versus other substrates. Versatility is the No. 1 attribute that consumers are curious about. You can use cast iron on the stove top, in the oven, outdoors. Versatility is a key component for us. We talk to retailers when we merchandise our product about versatility, non-toxic, and made in the USA. When we talk to consumers in a retail environment, we want to make sure we communicate those in that hierarchy.
Tell me about the strategy behind the Find What Makes You Sizzle campaign.
In today’s world, you really have to cut through with that zero second moment. What is that word that brings you there immediately? Sizzle. It’s a sensory word. You hear it, you smell it, you can even taste it. We know we can capture the consumer’s attention with sizzle. It organically plays right back into our product. And it takes you to a place. Whether it be frying bacon, steak or whatever, it’s immediately on your mind, which engages you. It’s a lighthearted, but joyful, yet direct, creative opportunity to bring consumers into these moments, whether it be in a kitchen, around a fireplace, or out on a deck for a barbecue grill.
Tell me about how your past experiences at other brands have helped shape your perspective in your current role.
What I’ve learned is that success is not always linear. There is always a pathway to success. When I’ve gone through learning and building on experiences –working from world-renowned brands to challenger brands– it boils down to product, people, what team, and your ability to weather trends and make sure that you can connect with consumers in an authentic way. I am so extremely fortunate to have all of them. We have a fantastic brand, a fantastic product and a fantastic team. We developed all the creative internally, which is rare in today’s world where brand companies can leverage their internal talent to develop national brand campaigns.
How are you approaching holiday marketing?
When you think about the holiday, you think about those moments of family and friends getting together and sharing a meal. As we start speaking to new consumers, we want to plant the seed and create the curiosity about cast iron in general during the holidays. If you don’t know the category, all of a sudden you’re becoming aware of cast iron and Lodge and you’re seeking the category out in the brand. We educate because there are a lot of perceptions of cast iron that people don’t understand. I can’t put it in the dishwasher. I can’t care for it like an aluminum pan. It takes extra care, but the benefit is there because of the flavor that it brings out. That’s where we’re planting the seed.
When that grows over the holiday period, consumers think about gifting cast iron. It’s a reinforcement of us as a category and a brand. If I’m a non-cast iron user, I’m going to have friends and family over. I want to try something new and share the joy of cooking by creating some of these amazing dishes that are available in cast iron. We bring all this forward with our retailer partnerships and we execute out-of-category placements and talk about that emotive opportunity around the holiday season to bring people into cast iron and leverage that momentum.
