A new social media campaign for Sara Lee brand’s Fresh ideas pre-sliced deli meats is bringing a bit of humor into the lives of busy, harried moms with satirical “video confessions” courtesy of players from Chicago’s Second City improve troupe.

The content actually comes via Second City Communications, the company’s business-services division, which worked with Sara lee to generate copy for three fictional-but-very-real-sounding “Mama Sagas” that poke fun at life’s mothering problems and manage to work in a pitch for Sara Lee’s Fresh ideas deli line to boot.

The three videos launched September 9 at the Sara Lee Deli Facebook fan page. The content is also available over a branded channel on the Metacafe portal under the Mama Saga label.

Each of the videos offers a wry take on the plight of mothers who work both in-home and away. In one, a mom sits down to make a video for “posterity” that shows her daughters what she does after they go to sleep—including poking through their purses, feeding Twyla the tortoise and snacking on Sara lee cold cuts instead of candy.

In another, a mom gives a shout out to the neighbors, assembling a cold cut platter as she thanks her friends for pitching in to pick up kids and drop the dog at the vet. “I am so sorry for what that dog did in the back of your van,” she says. “But I have a steam cleaner, and I am not afraid to use it.”



The videos are designed to draw online moms into conversations about their lives both on the Facebook page and in the Metacafe community.

“The ‘Mama Saga’ campaign is designed to first provide mom with a daily laugh and then engage her in an ongoing dialogue so we can be a better resource,” Sara Lee Deli senior brand manager Paula Shikany said. “Overall, we want the ‘Mama Sagas’ to act as a conversation starter while building brand awareness.”

“We wanted them to be totally authentic,” Shikany says of the decision to go with improv experts rather than professional actors working from scripts. “All of the actors are moms, and the moments they create are totally relatable.”

Video engagement ads are running on a range of mom-centric Web sites to drive traffic to the Sara lee Facebook page and Metacafe. The videos are also being made available on YouTube, Break.com, Dailymotion, Yahoo! Video, VideoEgg, Pandora TV and AOL Video, among other aggregation sites.

Sara Lee is also tweeting to moms using the @SaraLeeDeli Twitter account, offering a $3 discount coupon for Fresh Ideas deli products to tweeting moms who become fans on the brand’s Facebook page.

In addition, the brand is reaching out to mommy bloggers and mom blog networks to solicit other video content and add to the discussion on Facebook and Metacafe.

A new social media campaign for Sara Lee brand’s Fresh ideas pre-sliced deli meats is bringing a bit of humor into the lives of busy, harried moms with satirical “video confessions” courtesy of players from Chicago’s Second City improve troupe.

The content actually comes via Second City Communications, the company’s business-services division, which worked with Sara lee to generate copy for three fictional-but-very-real-sounding “Mama Sagas” that poke fun at life’s mothering problems and manage to work in a pitch for Sara Lee’s Fresh ideas deli line to boot.

The three videos launched September 9 at the Sara Lee Deli Facebook fan page. The content is also available over a branded channel on the Metacafe portal under the Mama Saga label.

Each of the videos offers a wry take on the plight of mothers who work both in-home and away. In one, a mom sits down to make a video for “posterity” that shows her daughters what she does after they go to sleep—including poking through their purses, feeding Twyla the tortoise and snacking on Sara lee cold cuts instead of candy.

In another, a mom gives a shout out to the neighbors, assembling a cold cut platter as she thanks her friends for pitching in to pick up kids and drop the dog at the vet. “I am so sorry for what that dog did in the back of your van,” she says. “But I have a steam cleaner, and I am not afraid to use it.”



The videos are designed to draw online moms into conversations about their lives both on the Facebook page and in the Metacafe community.

“The ‘Mama Saga’ campaign is designed to first provide mom with a daily laugh and then engage her in an ongoing dialogue so we can be a better resource,” Sara Lee Deli senior brand manager Paula Shikany said. “Overall, we want the ‘Mama Sagas’ to act as a conversation starter while building brand awareness.”

“We wanted them to be totally authentic,” Shikany says of the decision to go with improv experts rather than professional actors working from scripts. “All of the actors are moms, and the moments they create are totally relatable.”

Video engagement ads are running on a range of mom-centric Web sites to drive traffic to the Sara lee Facebook page and Metacafe. The videos are also being made available on YouTube, Break.com, Dailymotion, Yahoo! Video, VideoEgg, Pandora TV and AOL Video, among other aggregation sites.

Sara Lee is also tweeting to moms using the @SaraLeeDeli Twitter account, offering a $3 discount coupon for Fresh Ideas deli products to tweeting moms who become fans on the brand’s Facebook page.

In addition, the brand is reaching out to mommy bloggers and mom blog networks to solicit other video content and add to the discussion on Facebook and Metacafe.