Ryvita, a crispbread traditionally targeted at women 55 and older, is seeking favour with a younger demo over the holidays and trying to shake any perceptions that it is a dry cracker.

A seven-week program in Ontario with Mississauga-based agency Influence Marketing, started Nov. 1 and running until Dec. 15, is designed to create an experience for the younger target of women aged 25 to 44 and encourage pairing with other food items, says Carrie Williams, senior brand manager for Canada at the U.K.-based JordansRyvita Company. The brand is targeting the younger demo to try and bring in new users and also because that demographic is more likely to talk about the products they like on social media.

“We have great brand awareness but it’s really with an older demographic and we need to increase our user base by getting…hipper women,” Williams, says. “They really can establish a brand for us, whether through social networking or word-of-mouth.”

Relegated with other crispbreads to a four-foot section in the cracker aisle, Williams says the campaign message promotes Ryvita as a great alternative snack to try and snag new users. It is the largest campaign the brand has done to date in Canada and marks the start of a strategic plan to invest more in marketing to Canadians, she says.

Sampling is a major component of the campaign: Ryvita is being paired with wines, from Ponte Wine and Spirits, and Agropur spreadable cheeses at 100 LCBOs. Tabletop signage and “recipe cards” at sampling booths recommend pairing Ryvita with asparagus, dill, cream cheese and a bottle of wine. Ssampling is also being done at 125 Metro groceries in Ontario.

Ryvita has also partnered with Metro to reach consumers at the planning phase with e-blasts to the Metro.ca database between Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, encouraging people to “Pair it and Share it” over the holidays.

Ryvita postings will be featured on Metro’s Facebook page Dec. 5 and 12 and Ryvita is a featured partner on Metro.ca in select markets from Nov. 29 until Dec. 26.

The company is also running a contest on its recently created Canadian Ryvita Facebook page to win Metro gift cards and Ryvita gift baskets.

The brand and agency chose the holidays for the major push to take advantage of an increase in entertaining occasions, when people are looking to pair items such as crispbreads with toppings. There is already a campaign with Food Network host David Rocco in the works for early 2014, Williams say, when two new flavours – Mediterranean Herb and Sweet Chili – will be introduced. Rocco, host of David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, will create five unique recipes for the brand that will be posted on his and the brand’s Facebook pages. The partnership is a good fit for Ryvita, Williams says, because he is well-known among the target and should help boost the crispbread’s cred with foodies.

Ryvita certainly isn’t the first company to think of promoting itself for pairing with wine. Even Frito-Lay-owned Miss Vickie’s potato chips, in partnership with Australian winemaker Rosemount Estate, created a wine and chips pairing guide in 2012.