Talking Turkey 2.0

Now text alerts can help cooks with turkey tips

What would Charlie Brown think?

Even the old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal is going high-tech this year, according to an article in Advertising Age. Shoppers can now get advice on their mobile phone in the grocery store.

Butterball's "Turkey Talk-Line," which has been a ready resource for millions of first-time turkey chefs, will be incorporating Web 2.0 tools such as blogging and those "turkey texts," according to the report.

"We know that consumers are looking for information on the go and on demand," Bill Klump, senior vice-president of marketing for Butterball, told Advertising Age.

"This includes the new audiences we want to reach, such as first-time cooks."

So far, responses to the enhancements have exceeded expectations.
 
The "Turkey Talk-Line," which was one of the first national, toll-free consumer help lines, started in 1981 when a staff of six was overwhelmed by 11,000 callers. Now a staff of more than 50, the team coddles more than 100,000 consumers each year.

The updates are designed to advise a "new generation of cooks" whenever or wherever they need help, be it in the grocery store or at the stove, according to the article. Consumers can sign up for text messages that give thawing reminders and temperature guidelines, as well as read blogs written by "seasoned home economists." They can also participate in live chats or watch how-to videos at Butterball.com.

"When the Turkey Talk-Line started 28 years ago, the phone was the best way to give people the important turkey-cooking information they needed," Klump told Advertising Age. "This year, Butterball continues to evolve and reach new cooks with initiatives like turkey text messages, a new mobile web site and web chats, so that we can provide Butterball's expert holiday advice the way modern cooks want it, anytime and anywhere."

Butterball turkeys will also take a star turn in a Thanksgiving episode of Bravo's reality series "Top Chef". Contestants will be charged with creating their own unique take on the iconic meal.

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