We called Goodman Fielder (makers of Mighty Soft Fruit’n'Spice) twice and got a NZ call centre - we offered to send the pictures via email but they were not required. The lady thanked us for bringing the fruit muffins with minimal fruit to her attention and offered to send a voucher for replacement.
Let’s hope the next pack is more reflective of the packaging!
This morning at the MKTG office we have been discussing how annoying it is when food does not look like what is shows on the packet. Obviously we are not the only ones annoyed as a German website was established for a project on this very topic and accepted examples from around the world - www.pundo300.com if you want to see their experiences.
As marketers, we acknowledge making the most appealing packaging does not always translate to what’s inside. However, to reduce incidents of post purchase dissidence, we recommend to all product managers to keep this in mind. Yes, you want customers to see the packaging and find it appealing enough to buy the product, but what keeps them returning to purchase will be what is inside! And the greater the mind stretch to identify the product and packaging the least chance of repeat purchase.
Purchase expectations need to be managed - if a customer is expecting a delicious looking apple pie, then it better not appear (or taste!) as all pastry and runny apple sauce (with a few tiny bits of apple) out of the packaging. And hence this morn’s chat.
One of the team had Mighty Soft Fruit’n'Spice muffins for breakfast and although we do acknowledge financially times are a little tough, we still expect to see FRUIT in the FRUIT muffins. As you can see there was about 3 sultanas in one muffin - none in the other! And the entire pack was the same (we cut them all open). We will be contacting Mighty Soft this morning and will get back with an outcome shortly.
The more products there are in this world the more important it is to have perfect ‘presentation and packaging’. Some fantastic presentation and packaging our team have experienced include:
Red Rooster have launched new packaging for their whole chicken - no longer in a bag but in a handy box. At MKTG, we have rated the new look packaging as follows:
Positives:
Not so positives:
Overall, we like it. We look forward to seeing the other changes in the air at Red Rooster.
Last night I tuned in to the new BBC Knowledge channel on Foxtel and witnessed one of the most horrifying business documentary style TV shows ever! ‘I’ll Show Them Who’s Boss’ presents a series of business strategy overhauls and recommendations from Gerry Robinson (ex Coca Cola, Granada Media etc). Gerry is famous for ’sacking the bosses’ and last night’s recommended business battle did not disappoint!
The episode titled ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ was chock full of gasping moments as a father and son purchased (and managed - term used very loosely) a Nottingham lace company. There were so many defining moments in the program - its hard to pick which was worst!
Could it have been the father and son combo:
* employing ex-employee/friend, Chris (?), (with whom they worked with previously for 23 years) as the manager?
* introducing redundancies, promising the remaining staff that there would be no further redundancies, then within a month halving the staff with 50% redundancies?
* managing to completely alienate their entire workforce?
The most horrifying example of incompetence had to have been the father and son combo taking Gerry’s advice and sacking Chris and holding a staff meeting where the son, Richard, announced the retrenchment in a booming voice, reassuring the staff Chris HAD BEEN REMOVED and then re-instating him after a few weeks.
Theres so much more to delve into (like the hopeless MD son) but lets not go there. Shockingly incompetent case study, great squealworthy viewing - cant wait for next week.
Did you see it?
Last week I was driving with the CTO (chief technologies officer) and we heard an ad on Triple M (I think) advertising new Daylight Donuts in Melbourne. The ad went along the lines of this particular brand of donuts, whilst not going as far as calling them healthy, made out that they were far more impressive to a health conscious person than any other donuts around.
First of all, hello??? I cant say I know one health conscious person who would even EAT a donut. Why even go the health conscious angle?
Secondly, their lone outlet is in Sunshine. Seriously, who is going to trek out to Sunshine to get a ‘healthy’ donut? Im assuming the logic here was similar to Krispy Kreme with their 24 hour drive thu in Forrest Hill? Do you really think people in the local area around Sunshine care less how many health benefits are in a donut??
The radio marketing of this product is way off and has few synergies with the website. Im also not convinced about the location but bare with me. I then checked the website www.daylightdonuts.com.au and found no mention at all of health/kilojoules etc - nothing at all to do with anything but donuts. Not overly impressed really.
MKTG are going to change direction in the content and delivery of our blog. We are going to be a lot more regular in our contributions and more entertaining/thought provoking.
Stay tuned.
MKTG team.
Graphic design is the most undervalued aspect of business.
CFO’s – sick of marketing budget blowouts?
Marketing your product or service can be an expensive exercise and sometimes it is temping to do things cheaply. Buy a computer package and create the newsletters yourself, make your own brochures to save on a graphic designer or ask a family friend to put the website together instead of a web developer. A perfectly rational solution in theory. However, when potential clients and consumers see your home made production they won’t be so forgiving. Marketing collateral that looks home made, gets treated as cheap and nasty and your brand is judged negatively. If you really want to succeed with your brand and catch people’s eye – make sure it’s for the right reason and budget accordingly to invest in professionals for your marketing materials and collateral. Generally, there are areas not to skimp in your marketing swag. These include: • Brochures • Stationery • Website • Flyers • Promotions • Generally, any external communication between your business and an existing or potential customer Similarly, all the marketing materials should look consistent. Your logo, colours, slogan should be the same on every marketing communication. There should be no variation in the images or text and there should never be any fuzziness in your logo. Your logo particularly, should always present clean and sharp. Whether you mean to or not, a lack of consistency in your marketing not only reeks of an amateur but looks sloppy and gives the impression of a lack of care. So how do you afford to hire a professional marketer and a graphic designer? The simple answer is choosing to budget. Any business wishing to get ahead with its marketing should be budgeting between seven and ten percent of sales. If you break it down into monthly goals you will find it is easy to achieve and the difference of professionally presented materials will really make a difference to the perception of your brand in the market place. Using a professional marketer will make a real difference to your brand, image and overall public perception. Say goodbye to those competitors who are still creating home made materials; you are already ahead of them. Say hello to new opportunities; you are presenting professional marketing of your brand; product and/or service now and people will sit up and listen and take you seriously. MKTG did a rebranding project for a payroll solutions business in 2007. Prior to professional marketing influence, they had sporadic marketing attempts, several versions of a company logo, a home made newsletter (waffle and recipes on the back) and a non engaging website. After a ‘MKTG Marketing Makeover’, all of the collateral was branded consistently, a new logo created, new suite of marketing tools, new brochures and sales materials and amazing new website. So what were the results? The company was rebranded and repositioned in the industry. It was now in the top three for Australian payroll outsourcing and competing with the industry big guns; instead of the bottom three (where they previously were perceived and floundering with the small fish). Their competitors were shocked (and then they started to change their marketing to compete), potential clients contacted the newly rebranded company and asked for quotes and invited the company to tender. The website (which had previously averaged 4000 visitors a year) had over 10,000 visitors in the first three months of rebranding and now average 3000 visitors to the site per month – plus the new website has become a lead generator, totally free and enquiries straight into the company inbox. All fully track able, all fully accountable. To view the references and/or contact this client regarding the success of the rebranding and general marketing management, please visit our company website where you can view our clients, case studies and contact details. www.mktg.com.au So the next time you think about just doing your ‘home made’ marketing yourself, just dont! Stop. Now think about the impression you are creating. What do you want your materials say about your company and brand? What impression do you really want to give? Top tips for your business marketing success: • Create a marketing budget • Engage a professional marketer • Never use any more home made marketing materials again! • In case the point was not clear enough, never do any more home made marketing!