Family members pour food items from metal cans into a pot on the stove. A boy hands off an aerosol can containing a cleansing product to a man while they work on a automotive. People gathered around a dinner table use metal cups for his or her beverages.
These are scenes depicted in Sonoco’s television promoting campaign this yr that intends to point out how its metal packaging is “a part of real-life moments,” said Becky Skipper, director of business development and marketing at Sonoco Metal Packaging.
Developers intentionally centered on these scenarios as a substitute of on lauding the products’ features within the commercial. The actors within the industrial don’t speak, and there are not any voiceovers mentioning the corporate until the ultimate seconds when a broad product portfolio is on display. The entire spot brings feelings into the limelight; the corporate strives to be relatable and elicit an emotional reference to the viewer.
“We’re not focused on putting a can in the midst of the screen and talking in regards to the attributes of the 300 diameter can. People already know that,” Skipper said. “It’s [about] trusting within the brand that you just’re selecting to purchase from.”
TV promoting is mostly considered a mode to succeed in consumers, versus business customers — the businesses that will decide to sell their goods in metal packaging. But its role in B2B is increasing, in accordance with a LinkedIn evaluation. In particular, this marketing strategy is getting a boost as connected TVs develop into the norm. Sonoco intends to proceed tapping into the trend.
The company wants to attach with “consumers.” However, its audience is not the standard consumer heading to a food market to buy canned food: It’s actually still Sonoco’s “customers.”
“They are decision-makers, they usually’re also consumers,” Skipper said. “Outside of the office, they’re still consumers. They’re still streaming the identical shows that we’re. They’re still sitting with their families. And they’re still very much influenced by brands that they are watching.”
Sonoco harnessed modern technologies and promoting methods for the campaign. It’s based on connected TV, or CTV, referring to ads which are delivered through internet-connected televisions and streaming services. This mode allows for hyper customization to succeed in specific audience members.
Through this campaign on each conventional and streaming television services, Sonoco aimed to modernize its communications and exhibit that “we get the way you’re absorbing information, and we wish to be there in those moments,” Skipper said.
Introducing a TV ad campaign is a relatively rare move for a person packaging company, although certain industry groups, reminiscent of the soon-to-fold Paper and Packaging Board, have used this tactic. Some packaging corporations post their ads on their very own web sites, social media platforms or their very own channels on video streaming services like YouTube, but pushing such campaigns out publicly to TVs is not a frequent marketing tactic. International Paper, Smurfit Westrock and Ball are among the many few major packaging corporations which have sporadically run commercials on television.
“For Sonoco, moving into nationwide TV promoting isn’t about breaking with tradition — it’s about meeting people where they’re today,” Skipper said.
Sonoco’s TV promoting strategy involved reaching consumers — who’re also their customers — by making an emotional connection relatively than describing the advantages of their featured metal packaging.
A can plan
Skipper, the driving force behind the TV ads, really took notice of CTV marketing options when discussing with relations what gifts they wanted for Christmas. Her son named “a very specific truck. And he kept talking about this truck.” When scrolling through social media later that night, Skipper received ads for the truck.
“While some folks may even see dangers with that, I see it as opportunity if it’s utilized in the correct way,” she said. “All consumers are being targeted at this point anyway, so what can we do in a positive solution to influence them towards Sonoco?”
CTV tools allow the corporate to hone its messaging to a particular audience: those in certain regions, ZIP codes, and even to individual viewers, Skipper said. The company’s goal was to make use of that knowledge to have interaction with and boost Sonoco’s name recognition amongst key area of interest audiences, reminiscent of private label customers.
“We make all those cans. But once the label is on them, they do not necessarily consider Sonoco,” Skipper said. “So how can we develop into top of mind for them?”
The Sonoco team did a lot of the work in-house at their home base in South Carolina. They enlisted a local videographer to film the actors, then Sonoco staff edited the spots.
They began with a 30-second spot that launched nationwide after which broke it down into shorter formats for various audiences. Those 5-second to 7-second ads with distinct scenes pulled from the longer version catered to numerous market segments reminiscent of whipped topping, baked beans or automotive maintenance. Sonoco sent those commercials out to targeted regions.
“We know where our customers are. We know where big pockets of opportunity within the food and aerosol industry are — meaning we all know where those major brands are, and we all know where major retailers are,” Skipper said. “With the modernization of communication, I used to be in a position to do some really precise targeting with CTV ads.”
The campaign was pegged to Labor Day weekend to coincide with the start of fall activities reminiscent of football season and latest television programming. The marketing team heavily circulated the spots on nationwide sports channels, financial channels reminiscent of Bloomberg, and “feel-good channels” like Hallmark, HGTV and the Food Network.
“We desired to be related to family — Labor Day weekend and what families do. And then we still desired to hit the New York analysts, so we tried to get into the financial piece as well,” Skipper said.
The company considered this limited run of commercials as a test case to see who spotted the ad and the way it landed with goal audiences. Sonoco knew that “consumers aren’t expecting us to be there. [So] how did they react after we were there?” she said.
Sonoco said it ran its inaugural TV advertisements during Labor Day weekend 2025. The goal was to attach with viewers by showing how the corporate’s metal packaging is a component of real-life moments.
No small measure
Sonoco has yet to find out if it is going to expand using TV ad campaigns to focus on other packaging types inside its portfolio. But the metal packaging division plans to make use of the tactic again.
The team measured the campaign’s success based on aspects including cost, the variety of impressions and the click-through rate — determining the ads exceeded all metrics.
Sonoco declined to reveal how much it spent on the campaign, but the corporate is pleased with the return on investment.
“For the dollars we spent, we got greater than we thought,” Skipper said. “It’s definitely in our ad plan for 2026.”
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