By Charlie Laughtland
BDA blog editor

In the culinary world, it doesn’t get any bigger than Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker.

The titans of the kitchen came face to face for the first time this month when Martha Stewart visited the Minneapolis headquarters of General Mills Inc. A longtime BDA client, General Mills wanted to mark the occasion properly.

What better way than aprons?

General Mills tasked BDA with delivering “Martha Meets Betty” aprons for Stewart and the staff of Betty Crocker Kitchens.

Within an hour of the request coming in, BDA screened potential vendors and provided the client a quote. Final artwork was passed on and a shipment of crisp, white embroidered aprons arrived at General Mills less than 72 hours later—the morning of Stewart’s appearance. General Mills has since placed two reorders, which BDA filled in the same three-day timeframe.

“The aprons were a hit! I thought the quality of the stitching was remarkable. I have to say, you guys knocked it out of the park!” said Deb Welton, General Mills marketing excellence manager. “The size, color and embroidery clearly was topnotch and impressive, particularly for such a tight turnaround.”

Stewart not only wore her apron to dinner that night, she tweeted a photo of it to her 2.3 million Twitter followers when she returned to her hotel. On her blog, Stewart posted a full recap of her General Mills visit, including several pictures of Betty Crocker employees sporting the aprons.

As part of a monthly speaker series, Stewart shared lessons from a 30-year career in catering, cooking and media with a packed auditorium of General Mills marketers and brand managers. She closed with kudos for Betty Crocker.

“I feel a special connection to Betty Crocker,” Stewart said. “She’s more than a trusted name on a box or a brownie mix. She’s that cultural icon that we have looked up to for many years.”

For more “Martha Meets Betty” information and images, visit Stewart’s blog or the official General Mills blog. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal also covered Stewart’s visit.