Looking at Campbell and Progresso, it reminded me of the importance of protecting the brand in the long run.
I THINK I got the history right. Campbell started by stating Progresso soups have MSG, which goes against Progresso’s brand promise of making soup with TLC. Progresso fought back with how many Campbell soups had MSG, which is a lot simply because Campbell has a lot of soup varieties. Campbell then defended and state how many of their soups do not contain MSG. This campaign continues to escalate, and is now full blown with TV advertising.
Now the two brands look like they are in the petty fight, while leaving consumers confused about what is really best of them. For every move that you made directed against your competitor, you need to anticipate their response, and make sure that it’s something you can defend against…
1. Britney For the Record. I know, it’s a re-run.
2. Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
These programs intrigue me. These are not reality shows. We won’t be watching people being stupid. These are more or less straight advertisements… So, how strong a brand has to be before networks would jump at a chance to leverage your brand?
But for marketers, a more important question is when would it make sense for us to even try? After all, television is a very indirect way to interact with your consumers…
I think it make most sense if you already find yourself doing a lot of show and tell. Television is a show and tell. So, if you currently are showing and telling your product, there may be a television show in the making.
To think of this differently, there is a category that has had consistent success with using “show and tells” to sell products – books.
Book readings are simply show and tells. Television simply brings this show and tell to life.
As a marketer, differentiating your brand is always the most important thing. Yet, I’m seeing two great brands with great brand managers taking a different path…
Water filters.
I know the bottle water backlash is at an all time high, but is jumping on that bandwagon blindly a good idea?
[Flashback to b-school when we studied how hard Brita and Pur worked to differentiate two functionally extremely similar products…]
Brita used to mean fresh taste
PUR used to mean clean water
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