Buttering Up the Competition

Interesting article today about Parkay, in light of the discussion yesterday about margarine brand management at Unilever. Their new campaign combines a return to an old brand element, the talking tub, with a rational ingredient reason to believe Parkay tastes better - It's the milk! (Marketing Daily, Nov 24, 2008)

The Parkay "talking tub" is back for the first time in six years, just in time to celebrate the 35th anniversary of its first appearance on TV. A new commercial featuring the loquacious container began airing Monday and is scheduled to run nationally on both daytime and cable television, as well as online.

In addition to its 1973 debut, the tub has previously been used in campaigns featuring Laurel and Hardy (1982), Deacon Jones (1983), William Daniels (1990-91), Crystal Bernard (1997) and Al Franken (1999).

The campaign promotes a new formulation of the ConAgra brand that includes nonfat milk to enhance creaminess and texture. The new product is the only one in the margarine/table spread category that currently includes milk. Nonfat milk was used "specifically to avoid any fat in the finished product," although the marketing is more focused on milk as an ingredient than the fact that it's nonfat milk, according to ConAgra spokesperson Jeff Mochal.

Parkay continues to play off of its longtime brand message: "The label says Parkay, the flavor says butter." The new 15-second commercial features a dairy farmer being startled by an unusual moo coming from the Parkay Talking Tub in one of the stalls of his barn. The tub tells the farmer that the new Parkay is "better." The farmer responds: "You mean 'butter,'" to which the tub responds: "Parkay." A voiceover explains that the new product contains milk "for a fresh and creamy taste."

ConAgra VP, general manager Karl Sears described the talking tub as "iconic" and "the perfect ambassador" to tout the enhanced Parkay.

The last talking tub campaign, in 2002, focused primarily on in-store promotions--which used technology that enabled the tub's voice to call out at shoppers as they passed the dairy case.

Do you think this could work for Parkay? Why or why not? Once you post, we'll see what Justin DeGraaf thinks....

Brand Architecture - Boston's

There seems to be consensus around better food quality as the differentiator for Boston's, paired with parity assurance of a casual 'bar/grill' setting that is lively and a relaxing place to meet friends or bring family. Pizza should be dropped from the name. Picking up on our conversation today about brand architecture, do you think Boston's (without the Pizza) would benefit from building equity in a 'distinguisher' brand? Distinguisher brands are also sometimes referred to as 'energizer' brands' or 'support' brands. They are not necessarily part of the name, but they offer a unique and BRANDED supporting reason why. Examples are the Northstar engine for Cadillac, or the Heavenly Bed for Westin, OnStar for GM vehicles. If yes, what element of the Boston's experience should be branded? A menu item? Some other aspect of the experience? If no, why not?

Boston Gourmet Pizza Positioning

Greg Goyne and Firehouse face a challenge distinguishing Boston Gourmet Pizza from other sports bar/grills and family restaurants. Please answer the following two questions:

1. Assuming the target is 'lively, young escape artists' (love that whoever said it), and the frame of reference is bar/grills, what would you say is 'one thing' Boston Pizza can say that will set it apart from competitors?

2.On Wednesday, we will be discussing brand architecture and naming. Would you recommend re-naming the brand? What would you re-name it?

If you have any other ideas or feedback for Greg, please email me or provide it in your comments. He'd love to hear from you.

Shopping Depression

With all the dreary news about October showing the lowest retail shopping rates in 24years, I thought this might bring a smile. Unfortunately, the economy is unlikely to recover without a change in consumer confidence and consumer spending. Will deep discounts and low prices bring consumers back to airlines, stores and restaurants? What do you think?

Westlake Brand Metrics: What would you recommend?

David Patrick, CMO for Westlake Ace Hardware, has asked my firm to recommend a set of key metrics to evaluate progress on building the Westlake brand. What 3-4 customer measures would you recommend he focus his management and his organization on over the next 18 months to two years? What 3-4 performance measures? How would you factor in the geographical differences, does he need measures for individual markets?

Al Ries On Obama's Positioning Strategy

Al Reis coined the term 'positioning'. This week he wrote an article in Ad Age on why Obama's positioning strategy was so effective -- and McCain's and Clinton's were not. We have discussed a lot of this in class already, but thought you might enjoy hearing it from the Godfather of Positioning himself.

Positioning Multiple Benefit Products: What's the Tradeoff?

I just read about a fascinating new study in the Journal of Consumer Research by Arthur Chernev at Kellogg's School of Business that is relevant to our positioning conversation. The question is whether consumers evaluate multiple benefit products more or less positively than single-minded benefit products. This issue is a common one, just think of the number of commercials that continue with "but wait!! There's more!!" The research attempted to address questions like, 'Does an iPod play music better than an iPhone?' and 'Does a standalone printer make higher quality printouts than an all-in-one printer/fax/copy machine?' and 'Does a laundry detergent promising great cleaning power remove stains better than a laundry detergent that promises both great cleaning power and enhanced protection against fading?'

Through series of studies across five CPG (Consumer Package Goods) categories such as toothpaste, vitamin supplements, cold remedies, shaving cream and detergent, the authors conclude that the Master of One strategy is more compelling to consumers than the Jack of All Trades Strategy. Chernev found that a product specializing in a single attribute is perceived to be superior in that attribute relative to an all-in-one product having multiple features. The wrinkle is that a higher price for the all-in-one products can overcome the undermining effect of multiple benefits. Chernev found that the perceived attractiveness of the all-in-one option can be increased by placing it at a higher price than that of the competing specialized options.

Click here to read more about how the study was done. Does this resonate with your experience? Aside from increasing the price, can marketers increase the performance credibility of all-in-one products? Or should they simply not even try?

Positioning Simply Safe: What's the Biggest Challenge?

I'd like to know what you thought of the positioning exercise we did in class. As you worked as a team to craft alternative positionings for Simply Safe, which of the four aspects of the positioning was most difficult to pin down? Target? Frame of reference? Differentiation? or Reason why? Why was it difficult? How satisfied are you that you identified the 'right' positioning?

Buy-O-Logy

In class I mentioned a new book that discusses what neurology has to teach us about consumers' relationships to brands, Buy-Ology: Why We Buy What We Do. Here are a few recent articles on the subject, one from Fast Company (10.24.08) and the other from Scientific American on the brain's involvement with of lottery tickets.

What Brands Resonate with YOU?

Which brand(s) do you feel a connection to at the highest level of the brand pyramid? what is it about the brand(s) that makes this such a strong relationship? Is it how the brand behaves? What it is? What it does for you? Think about how this came about....