We’d like to commend Hormel Foods Corp. and BBDO Proximity Minneapolis, an ad agency in the Twin Cities, for using Austin teens to promote Hormel’s newest product.

Hormel recently introduced Rev, a wrap that combines cheese, deli meat and flatbread into a refrigerated package. The new product is being marketed particularly to teenagers as a snack, while other brands’ products, like Kraft Foods’ Lunchables, tend to target younger children.

It only makes sense that Hormel would turn to teens to promote the product. It also makes sense the company would find teens in its hometown.

One Rev ad features 2013 Austin High School graduate Alex Laury sprinting up a set of bleachers at Wescott Field. The ad is now running in print ads across the country.

An upcoming ad will feature Melissa Navoa, also a 2013 AHS graduate. She will be shown practicing her cello late into the evening, putting in the time necessary to improve at her art.

As seniors at AHS, both Laury and Navoa were in a marketing class that collaborated with Hormel on the new product on an ongoing basis for the last two years. The students offered early input on Rev’s design, branding and taste. They also helped Hormel decide which flavors would be most relevant to teenagers, according to Hormel officials.

Rewarding two of the teens that helped develop the project was the right thing for the company to do. Austin’s been good to Hormel, and Hormel’s been good to Austin. It’s mutually beneficial for the two to reward one another.

We hope such partnerships continue in the future and more Austin teens are given similar opportunities.