100 calorie meltdown

Photo: me

Are the days for 100 calorie packs numbered? Brandweek reports that sales of most 100-calorie packs are down. Oreo Thin Crisps, for example, are off 31% vs last year. The "mini munchie" craze started back in 2004 with Kraft launch of Oreo Thin crisps as well as Wheat Thin Minis and Nabisco Mixed Berry Fruit Snacks and, seeing the success, General Mills, Frito-Lay and others all jumped in with their own products.

The article points to several possible reasons why: The recession in general as well as issues with taste and wasteful packaging. "The Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert is quoted as saying that newly frugal consumers have figured out how to measure out 100-calories by themselves. And/or maybe it's that portion control is now out of favor and everyone's on to the next thing to help us stick to a reasonable diet.

I think that all these factors have played a part but I'd like to throw in one more: The product architecture. A couple of weeks ago, I was having a discussion with myself (and others) about Frito Lay's Baked! line of chips. I could see the logic in promoting Baked! to lead status on the packaging but I wasn't sure that leading with a generic name and relegating the "real" brands like Cheetos to secondary status was the right way to go. Even more so with the 100-calorie packs. Another generic name, this time being used by lots of different manufacturers as a descriptor for a category of products.

You can see from the photo the consequences of leading with "100-calorie" vs. Oreo, Ritz etc--there's a strong billboard effect but the packaging design looks generic. Contrast the 100-calorie packs from Nabisco with Pepperidge Farm's alternative approach with Goldfish (also in the photo) which places the 100 calorie message as a secondary message more in the tradition of fat free or lite. Less billboard but more branding. (For an in-between approach, see here for the way that Pepperidge Farm has added 100 calorie to its line of cookies.)

I wonder what would have happened if the 100 calorie message had been softer-pedalled? Perhaps less initial success but a longer-term future?

Simple abuse and the shallow kiss

Photo: jeffk Flickr CC

There's a big difference between simplicity and simplistic. Simplicity is good, it's important and according to da Vinci it's: "The ultimate sophistication." Simplistic is bad, shallow and lazy.

When someone throws out a K.I.S.S. (as in: Keep it Simple, Stupid) do they mean that you've got to work harder to make something less complicated, more uncluttered and more useful for others or do they mean that you can get away without much effort or attention to detail, making it easier for them? It's important that you don't fall into the trap of using the pursuit of simple be an excuse for dumbing things down.

Garr Reynolds explores the question of simplicity in this post which includes a link to a speech he gave on the topic at a recent Synergy Conference. One quote, buried deep in the speech, from Dr. Koichi Kawana sums up the good type of simplicity:

"Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means."

The Twitter dilemma: How to embrace without touching

Back a long, long time ago when I was at school, we had a teacher who stood in as school nurse for a while. He had no medical training and, whatever our ailment, he prescribed a Strepsil throat lozenge. He had a big tub of them so it was very efficient and great as long as we weren't actually that sick.

I was reminded of that story when I received this tweet from Nescafé after my post about its latest advertising campaign:

NescafeUSA @martinjbishop We liked your blog post! Have you gotten a chance to try the Nescafe stick packs yet? 10:50 AM Jun 10th from web in reply to martinjbishop

A response that just didn't connect back to what I had been writing about (which was whether Nescafe's advertising response to the launch of Starbucks VIA instant coffee was a good idea or not).

If you take a look at @nescafeusa, you can see what's going on. There's only a narrow range of tweet types:

1) Approval (or RTs) for anyone who mentions Nescafe positively
2) Suggestion to try Nescafe stick packs for anyone who mentions VIA
3) Occasional chipper "morning everyone" tweets

This, I think, shows the dilemma that Twitter poses for companies like Nestle that have traditionally had a very cautious relationship with the outside world (media and consumers). They want to join this new social media thing but they worry about how to engage safely and how to keep control. Better not give the probably-relatively-junior member of the brand team "in charge" too much leeway, they think, else he/she says something that will get us into trouble. And we can't expect our senior marketers to take on this job. They've got enough on their plate already and they're not that interested.

So they end up with this rather bland, occasionally ill-fitting, half effort where the toe has barely touched the water. Contrast this with the beyond-expectations response I got a few weeks ago from Irritrol, a much smaller company that hasn't even decided what to do with Twitter yet but who is already using the medium more effectively.

SOTB: Summer edition

Yes. Summer is officially here as of Sunday. But I gave up trying to find a full slate of sunny, cheery stories for the week:

1) Obama and the Fly: CNBC



Yikes! No bugs in the White House. Everyone had a field day with this. Colbert called it "a shocking abuse of executive power." PETA didn't like it either and is selling a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher for those who would never harm a fly. Really.

2) Hit the Hut, or hit the depths of desperation : John Lyle's New Brand Thinking

Pizza Hut is at it again. Last year, it was experimenting with Pasta Hut. Now it's looking at The Hut. What's wrong with the Pizza? John Lyle thinks it's a sign of desperation. Many others are commenting to, most negatively. As idsgn points out, The Hut reminds us of this.

3) Doubting Twitter: Slate
Jack Shafer bravely and perhaps recklessly stepped in front of Twitter's Persian Express, daring to suggest that it might be more "noise than signal." Still, despite some hyperbole, this was a great, coming of age week for Twitter, asked by the State Department no less to put off planned maintenance so that Iranians protesting the election could take advantage of its services.

4) BRIC Nations Seek Greater Role in Global Economy: NPR
Name it and they will come. Jim O'Neill, a London-based economist for Goldman Sachs, first lumped Brazil, Russia, India and China together several years ago and gave them their collective acronym. Now they are actually meeting together to discuss common issues. Would there ever have been a BRIC summit if O'Neill hadn't given the group a name? "I've never really thought about that," he said. "I guess probably not."

5) It's Olympics time again: The Herd (via brandflakesforbreakfast)
The Herd reviews the pitch videos from the final bid cities for the 2012 Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid). His favorite is this one from Tokyo:



6) P&G Goes Viral With Tampax Videos: Brand New Day
"Show me a client with a product or brand that is a borderline commodity, and I’ll show you an agency that is out to cure it of its commodity status," says David Kiley before introducing us to Zack Johnson, perhaps the most unlikely character you could imagine to promote Tampons. This video was added to YouTube back in April and has been seen 25,000 times, not a huge success. Perhaps a little too weird?



That's it! See you here on the blog or on Twitter (@martinjbishop) for more stories from the world of brand strategy.

Canvas tops, rubber soles, Southern Californian lifestlye: The secrets of Vans success

Photo: Nicole90 Flickr CC

Kai Ryssdal, of NPR's Marketplace, interviewed Doug Palladini, Vans Vice President of Marketing about the secret of his brand's success. It's a classic story of a niche brand sticking to what it knows best, in this case for 40 years.

After receiving a huge early boost when Sean Penn wore his own pair of Vans playing the character Spicoli in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Vans has mainly kept its focus on its thick, rubber-soled, canvas-topped, cool shoes. Whenever it wandered too far from its home base it got burned. This was the key exchange:

RYSSDAL: How do you keep going with this brand, that has evolved really not very much in the last 40 years, right? I mean it was cool shoes then, and it's cool shoes and some other stuff now.

PALLADINI: What we always try to do is dive back into what makes us original and authentic. And it's almost going back that allows us to move forward. You know, we've had times in our past, and we've been through bankruptcy where we've tried to reach beyond who we are as a brand. We've made wrestling shoes, clown shoes, skydiving shoes. We did a whole running thing... It is that Southern California culture of music, art, action sports, street culture all wrapped together around this basic-looking shoe. That is really what it is.

If you want to know more, the company has just published a book about its history called: "Vans: Off the Wall: Stories of Sole from Vans Originals."

Only in Fairfax

It was the 32nd Annual Fairfax Festival this past weekend. The Festival kicked off with the "Only in Fairfax" parade. "Only in Fairfax" is the adopted shorthand for a town that prides itself on an independent, quirky spirit. Fairfax is sometimes known as Mayberry on Acid (as in this short film which won the audience prize at the 2007 Fairfax Film Festival) --a family town that celebrates the unconventional.

Like any effective shorthand, "Only in Fairfax" captures the heart of the town and serves as a filter for what is/is not Fairfax. Businesses in town have used the shorthand to inform their initiatives (like the Fairfax 5 theatre, the first (and only) solar-powered multiplex). Newcomers like me get directed to the right state of mind.

Here are five photos from the parade representing my best shot(s) at capturing the Fairfax spirit:

The vintage fire truck works its way up Bolinas Ave

Banjo, "A's" shirt, Big beard

Tie-dyed T-shirt, helmet-wearing mountain biker

The Marin Sanitary Services dance group

California, of course

Digging context: An archaeological perspective

NPR's All Things Considered reported Wednesday that a two-year undercover sting aimed at a black market in ancient American Indian artifacts has led to federal indictments in Utah naming 24 people. Federal law prohibits the digging and selling of these artifacts on federal and tribal land.

I thought the perspective of the archaeologist interviewed about these thefts was interesting. He said that the artifact thieves "steal" the historic and cultural context of the items they take. In his words:

"When an artifact is detached from its story--it becomes just an object,"

Taster's Choice welcomes Starbucks to the Hood

A few weeks ago, I taste-tested VIA, Starbucks surprising entry into the instant coffee market, to see if it stood up to its claim that it tastes as good as fresh-brewed coffee. And, give or take, it does.

In a Starbucks VIA Italian Roast vs. Starbucks Ground Italian Roast vs. Taster's Choice Original taste-off, as I said in that post: "In terms of appearance, aroma, mouthfeel and taste, VIA is pretty close to the Ground Italian Roast and miles different/better than Taster's Choice. Lots of body, no off-notes and no artificial flavor."

So what, I then said. I couldn't see the benefit for Starbucks to have the best instant coffee on the market and I still can't. But I could see the potential benefit for Taster's Choice (the brand I once managed) even though it doesn't taste as good and, sure enough, here it comes with a nationwide campaign to try and take advantage of the opportunity.

The campaign focuses on the the huge price difference between VIA (83 cents per cup*) and Taster's Choice (21 cents per cup*) with ads that mimic the style of Starbucks own advertising. The same theme is carried online with the website which includes a budget calculator and other unsubtle price comparison messages.

Given the recessionary times, the price gap and (in my opinion) the big taste advantage for VIA, this approach was perhaps inevitable but I'm not sure how effective it will be. I guess the hope is that VIA will generate interest in the instant coffee category and that there will be some who will balk at paying the VIA price and will try Taster's Choice instead and be satisfied with its taste profile. Optimistic.

What the new campaign is perhaps more likely to do is reposition Taster's Choice from being the premium (and best quality) brand in instant coffee to the one that's the most expensive, mainstream player. That could end up putting pressure on its prices to get it more in line with the other mainstream brands.

I'm actually hoping, for Taster Choice's sake, that VIA is an (unlikely) success. If it can carve out a niche in this previously unexplored high-priced area, it will give Taster's Choice space to launch higher quality, more expensive products that it so far has been unable to get into the market (despite several attempts). The Nestlé R&D team is quite capable of developing products as good as VIA but, up until now, such products would never have been pursued because the cost of making them would require a retail price perceived to be unrealistically high. If VIA can somehow generate interest and a market for this level of quality that will open up a world of new opportunities for my old brand.

The launch of VIA is a little like someone building an expensive home in a downtrodden neighborhood. In the best case scenario, those with the wherewithal will take the chance to renovate and increase their property value and the whole neighborhood will be revived. But perhaps the more likely case is that the expensive home loses its value and the owners will wonder what they were thinking moving there in the first place.

My cost per cup where purchased (sachets)

SOTB: Video edition (remix)

An all-video edition of Six of the Best this week:

1) "Rap Chop" featuring Vince (Steve Porter's Slap Chop remix): djsteveporter
Just an incredible infomercial remix. As one comments says: "Quite frankly, I think Steve just won the internet."


Via: Ben Kunz and, before that, Todd Sanders

2) Burger King's Home Shopping Parody Works To Break Clutter: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
And while we're exploring this infomercial/home shopping world, how about this well-executed parody for Burger King?


Via: Brand New Day

3) Filet-O-Fish Rap - Mikey And Big Bob HD: MorningFreakShow
An awesome fanmercial. I'm sure McDonalds is lovin' it.


via Darryl Ohrt

4) Röyksopp - Remind me: rodandroll
As Olivier says: "Brilliant, cool, and so well done." A little depressing as well? A day in the life of a woman working in the London's Square Mile told solely through infographics.


via: Olivier Blanchard

5) Mad Avenue Blues: LMcDuff08
Sung to Don McLean's "American Pie", this 19 stanza (9-minuted) song, according to the YouTube details, was written and produced in just one day. More incredible stuff.


via: Ben Kunz

6) David Lynch Vacation videos: The Interview Project
In his own words: "Interview Project is a road trip where people have been found and interviewed. People should watch Interview Project because they are going to meet hundreds of people." People like Jess.

via Darryl Ohrt

That's it! See you here on the blog or on Twitter (@martinjbishop) for more stories from the world of brand strategy.

First hand report of Twitter-driven customer service: The sprinkler story

Photo: The RD-600 Rain Dial from Irritrol: Me (once again, obviously)

I just couldn't get this freakin' Rain Dial sprinkler controller to work. I was down in my poorly-lit basement turning knobs, reading instructions, pushing buttons with no success. As I reached the point of give-up, I noticed that the name of the company was: "Irritrol," a name that summed up my mood. So, to release my exasperation, I tweeted: "My sprinkler meter's broken so Irritrol = Irritation + Troll vs. intended Irrigation + control." Not my greatest tweet but it made me feel better and off I went to bed. The next morning, I woke up to this message from Dan Winterton, the Irritrol Marketing Manager:

I was given your e-mail by a co-worker that said you posted on Twitter some problems you were having with your irrigation timer. I would like to help you out with your problem. Feel free to send me an e-mail or give me a call and we can see what we can do to help.

So, I emailed him back and then we spoke on the phone and, in the politest way possible, he and a colleague convinced me, without ever saying so, that this was most likely a case of operator error and went over the steps I needed to take. Which I took and, of course, the sprinklers fired up and the system is working perfectly.

So kudos to Dan and the Irritrol team for being in the vanguard of Twitter-driven customer service. I followed up with a "thanks" email and asked him about the set-up for this Twitter service and it turns out that they are still in start-up/thinking about it mode with a few, interested workers tracking tweets and reporting anything interesting. Not a bad way to start for small to medium businesses. I wonder when such a level of customer service will go from being way above and beyond expectations to what's always expected?

Meanwhile, now that the controller is working, unseasonal rain has come to the Bay Area. If I tweet about that, will someone fix that too?

P.S. I still don't like the company name. We could help with that.

And the secret of a successful brand is...

Photo of the Basilique Saint-Denis: stevecadman (Flickr CC)

Gesamtkunstwerk. You're welcome.

While on a search for something else entirely, I came across this speech given by Giep Franzen from way back in 2001 to promote his then new book: Strategic Management of Brands.

Gesamtkunstwerk was coined by Richard Wagner who was trying to break away from the Italian opera model of the time where music was given the priority and the drama was entirely subordinated. He saw Gesamtkunstwerk as: "an interconnected whole, subject to a dominating fundamental principle or truth, and strived towards an absolute oneness of action and thought." The best of the best from a Gesamtkunstwerk perspective, Franzen says are the Gothic cathedrals inspired by the Basilique Saint-Denis in Paris.

Franzen translates Gesamtkunstwerk into nine elements that can translate to branding success. The five I found the most interesting:

1. A utopia: a common idea, a philosophical or even a metaphysical ideal from which an attempt is made to (re)create material reality. An abstract central idea, a mental construct. In terms of brands, we could talk of a brand vision, a set of core values and a brand personality.

2. A peddler: a spiritual father (or mother!) that puts the utopia into words, and is its personal embodiment. This is also someone that takes it further than an abstract idea, but who sees the (re)shaping of reality into this idea as his primary mission. When it comes to brands, we call such a person a ‘brand steward’.

3. Totalitarianism: the subordination to the utopia of the artists who form the group. They recognise and accept the ideal, and are willing to submit themselves to its realisation. The resistance against it, as is the case with free artists and applied arts such as those in the communications industry, form the greatest obstacle to giving shape to Gesamtkunstwerken.

4. Interdisciplinary: the co-creating professionals coordinate their contribution in such a way that the mental construct is expressed in all the material aspects of the work. The ‘doubling effect’ is to be avoided, and the disciplines are to be made as complementary as possible.

5. Continuity: Gesamtkunstwerk is not approached as a project that is subject to a system of planning and execution, but as a permanent design and consummation of the work of art in time, based on the starting points of the ideal. With brands, this leads to the need to work from a sense of historical awareness.