Rao’s will have its first-ever float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — Rao’s Homemade, the fast-growing sauce brand that originated in its namesake Harlem restaurant, is perhaps getting its biggest national exposure to date: a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Campbell’s Company, which bought the premium sauce brand as part of a $2.7 billion deal last year, is thrusting Rao’s Homemade into the spotlight at the annual event that last year drew a record-breaking 28.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.
The promotion is part of the company’s efforts to grow Rao’s Homemade into a $1 billion brand as Campbell’s broadens its portfolio beyond the declining condensed soup business. One challenge for Rao’s Homemade is that carries a significantly higher price tag compared to its competitors, an issue as inflation-weary customers hunt for bargains.
Alan Creveling, Rao’s Homemade vice president of marketing, told CNN that the brand’s awareness among consumers lags far behind its entrenched competitors.
In fact, only about 60% of shoppers have heard of Rao’s Homemade while other sauces are near the 100% mark, Creveling said. “We see our business right now with tremendous opportunity for growth,” he said, adding that the parade is a “major cultural event” that could push those metrics higher.
Designing the float
With just a few seconds of TV screen time, Rao’s had to design an eye-catching float that breaks through a three-hour telecast. Viewers will see a massive float called the “Pasta Knight,” a play on the words “pasta night.”
Creveling said the float’s design is an “intersection between our brand and what is going to get eyeballs while it’s on TV and in person.” A knight with a cheese-grater shield riding a horse made of pasta fights a fire-breathing dragon — meant to depict hunger — 30 feet in the air on top of a medieval Italian town. Ingredients of Rao’s sauce, like garlic, basil and tomatoes, are also featured on and around the float.
“We want people that are unfamiliar with the brand to then get familiar with the brand,” Creveling said. He said that the knight soaring into the air is meant to connect with the sauce’s reputation of being an “elevated product” that often has a price tag as much as three times higher than its cheaper competitors.
A musician will also sing on the float, but Rao’s Homemade declined to announce who. Designing and building the float is about a nine-month process and, as part of the deal with Macy’s, Rao’s Homemade float will be featured in the parade for the next three years.
Financial terms of the partnership weren’t released, but having a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade generates the equivalent of $2.25 million in advertising for a brand, according to Apex Marketing Group, a firm that evaluates sponsorships.
Growing Rao’s
Rao’s Homemade pasta sauce is the “biggest and most business-critical” part of the brand, encompassing roughly 70% of the brand’s total sales. The float aims bring awareness to other lesser-known products it sells, like pasta, pizza and frozen entrees, Creveling said.
Last year, the brand raked in $775 million in revenue and is on track to generate $1 billion this year as it expands its product lineup, according to a recent earnings report.
Still, the brand has room to grow in terms of revenue and identity. The parade is filled with recognizable American brands, so it appears that Campbell’s is trying to position Rao’s Homemade in a “similar American staple kind of way,” said Andrea Hernández, founder of Snaxshot, a food and beverage insights platform.
Also, Rao’s restaurant has a richer history behind it, dating back to 1896, compared to other brands. However, “if you’re not familiar with it, the brand probably doesn’t hit in the same way,” she told CNN.
The-CNN-Wire
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