Tastybaby Joins Big Brands for "Babies"

When your products are aimed at moms and your partner brands have names like Johnson’s Baby and Pampers, you’re in some pretty big company for a startup that’s barely three years old.

But that’s exactly where Tastybaby finds itself after the organic frozen baby-food company became an official partner supporting the release of Focus Features’ upcoming film, Babies.

The Los Angeles-based company has been joined not only by J&J and the Procter & Gamble diaper brand, but also by other major promotional partners including Kodak, Stonyfield Farms’ YoBaby yogurt, and the March of Dimes Foundation.

For a brand that's barely out of the crawling stage, it's running with some pretty big kids these days.

The Babies documentary, opening at theaters in North America on Mother’s Day weekend and around the world, follows the “shared experiences and different cultures of four infants in their first year in various parts of the world.”

Signing on as a sponsor was a natural fit with Tastybaby’s brand ethos, with a corporate social responsibility platform of devotion to children’s causes, socially responsible business practices, and programs devoted to infant health and wellbeing.

“Babies were the inspiration for our products, and so these four beautiful stories resonate deeply with us – they are what Tastybaby is all about!” said co-founder Liane Weintraub about the sponsorship.

Weintraub, a former TV news reporter, and Shannon Swanson, of the TV dinner family, started Tastybaby in 2007. Annual sales recently passed the $1 million mark as Tastybaby helped establish the entire category of organic frozen baby food in natural-products outlets such as Whole Foods Markets.

Lately, Tastybaby also has been expanding its product line, into organic infant cereals and Tasty Brand organic snacks for older kids.

If Tastybaby keeps forming relationships with the high-profile sort of complementary brands that have joined it in promoting Babies, other opportunities for brand expansion will inevitably toddle along.