Ball Park® Deli Style Beef Franks Awarded 2012 Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product Award

Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 15:43 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill.-( Business Wire )-

Ball Park, the maker of America’s number one selling beef hot dog*, today announced they have been recognized as a 2012 Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product Award winner in the food and beverage category. Introduced to consumers in the spring of 2011, the Ball Park Deli Style Beef Franks are a premium quality hot dog that makes it easy to enjoy the authentic New York deli taste from home. Made with 100 percent beef, Deli Style Beef Franks contain no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no by-products and no added MSG, providing consumers with a great-tasting, high quality beef hot dog to enjoy.

The 2012 Best New Product Award winners were determined from the BrandSpark International/Better Homes and Gardens American Shopper Study that surveyed more than 65,000 independent consumers who voted in 65 categories. Known as North America’s pre-eminent gauge of habits, trends and key insights into the minds of consumers, the Best New Product Awards are the most credible, consumer-voted awards program in the U.S. focusing on new consumer products from the past year.

“We are honored to be recognized as a winner of the Better Homes and Gardens Best New Products for 2012,” said Aaron Alt, General Manager of the Ball Park Brand. “This award comes at a perfect time as we’ve just announced our new creative campaign ‘Men. Easier Fed Than Understood™,’ aimed to connect with women who buy guy foods for the men in their lives to promote ‘guy time.’ We created the new Deli Style Beef Franks to meet the growing needs of those women who are seeking out premium hot dog offerings for their families that deliver on both quality and taste. Since launching the product last summer, we’ve received a positive response from consumers and this award reinforces what we’ve been seeing.”

For additional information and a full list of Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product Award winners for 2012, please visit www.bestnewproductawards.biz.

* Source: Based on IRI Dollar Sales data, Total U.S. FDMx + Wal-Mart, 52 week period ending January 8, 2012

About Ball Park

The Ball Park brand was launched in 1957 in response to a request from the owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. The Ball Park Frank was such a success, it was expanded nationally. Today, Ball Park products can be found in supermarkets, convenience stores and a variety of sports venues– including Detroit’s Comerica Park. For more information, visit www.ballparkbrand.com.

About Sara Lee Corporation

Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) and it's leading portfolio of food and beverage brands, including Ball Park, Douwe Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Pickwick Teas, Sara Lee and Senseo, generate nearly $9 billion in annual net sales from continuing operations and employ approximately 20,000 people worldwide. In January, 2011, Sara Lee Corp. announced that it will divide the company into two pure -play publicly-traded companies, one focused on the international coffee and tea market and the other on North American meats. For more information on the company, please visit www.saralee.com.

About BrandSpark International

BrandSpark International is an independent market research and brand strategy firm with a strong grasp on consumer segmentation, innovation, new product research and global consumer trends. BrandSpark developed the Best New Product Awards program to be the most credible consumer voted awards program for Consumer Packaged goods. www.BrandSpark.com

About Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens serves and connects women who are passionate about their homes and the lives they create there. BHG inspires her to dream and gives her the confidence to move from dreaming to doing. For more information, please visit www.bhg.com.

MWW GroupLindsey Winkler, +1-201-964-2374orSara LeeAshley La Croix, +1-630-598-8732