Author Archives: davetuchler

Restoration Hardware Weighs In Heavy

Posted on June 4, 2013 by davetuchler

When I first heard that Restoration Hardware was delivering 7 lb. reflections of its founder, I feared that science had finally mastered cloning and was sending us all little Gary Friedman (‘Chairman Emeritus‘) babies. Turns out it’s even worse.

It seems that Restoration Hardware, which owes its success to the retro look, is also committed to retro marketing.

RH Spring 2013 catalogs

Chairman Emeritus Gary Friedman

Last week in my mail I received the latest RH catalog – make that catalogs with an ‘s’ –no, scratch that – -make it ‘Source Books’ – all 7 lbs and 1600 pages of it. It is huge, glossy, painfully self-conscious, and utterly uncalled for. Comprising 5 separate parts (‘Interiors’, ‘Outdoor & Garden’, ‘Objects of Curiosity’, ‘Tableware’, and ‘Small Spaces’), it prominently features the heroic, studiously casual, Ralph Lauren-style visage as well as philosophical meanderings of the founder, Mr. Friedman. It also features a sober collection of furniture marketers, as well as such fashion-forward innovations as deconstructed furniture. Yes. You can now have this for your home.

RH Design Team

Deconstructed chair

You can find some other worthy commentary in the MorningNewsBeat blog. And the philosophy of Mr. Friedman in the inside cover pages (“uh, do you mind if I, um, quote myself?”) is worth a quick look.

Now, to be fair, I’ve bought things at RH before (although I can’t remember the last time), and among the weirdness they do have some very nice stuff, although it always seemed overpriced. But I can’t figure out why they would invest anywhere from $3 to $18 (depending on who you ask) to send this bulky material to my house. I didn’t ask for this crap! How does this ever pay back the millions invested? New users?

Beyond the RH website, the catalog itself is available online as an iPad/iPhone app, which seems more consistent with how people shop. And sending this enormous bulk of paper, in addition to being highly wasteful, now requires effort on the part of environmentally-conscious recipients – to execute recycling properly. Mine went to the bin right after the photo shoot.

More likely, it is a true ego reflection of the founder – – and reveals his most basic underlying philosophy: size matters. In a final unintended irony, an almost whispered disclaimer on an insert commends itself on sending this catalog ‘twice a year rather than monthly’, and encourages consumers to ‘participate in the recycling programs in their communities’. No kidding.

Please recycle!

10 Observations from the Real Man’s NRA Show

Posted on May 23, 2013 by davetuchler

What sort of a charmed life is one living when Chef Robert Irvine factors into it twice in a single month? I had the pleasure of walking the floor at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago this week, and was treated to a delightful array of sights, smells, tastes, huge portions of protein, and in the case of Chef Irvine, sounds!

Overall, while there were no gangbuster introductions, the show seemed to achieve a cosmic balance of the healthy (e.g. gluten-free), the indulgent (pastry galore), the novel (spinach balls) and the old-school standbys.

Here’s a sampler from this roving do-it-yourself Lazy Susan:

1) MO’ MEAT! An unlimited assault of meat. Australian Wagyu beef (unbelievable!), Ditka’s chicken sausage (should real men eat it?), bangers from Jolly Posh, jamon iberico de bellota, plain old hot dogs, and the list goes on. A veritable on-the-fly charcuterie. Ron Swanson’s vision of heaven. Perhaps the only product equally welcomed at either NRA show.

2) Celebrity! The boundary between cooking as craft and cooking as entertainment has been erased forever. Anthony Bourdain, a few of Food Network’s A Team (Aarón Sanchez, Robert Irvine, Alexandra Guarnaschelli – and that was just the day I was there), and many others. They attracted long lines, and in the case of the showcase demo area, made a lot of noise (yes, that’s Chef Irvine wearing a tight black short-sleeved shirt for a change).

3) Rising international influence. The international representation of exhibitors was exceeded only by the internationality of the attendees. Not just many countries, but lots of delicious cross-fertilization of ingredients and techniques. More proof of the unstoppable globalization of foods and flavors. Peru debuted at NRA this year.

4) Salmon – oak or maple smoked, flavored, salty, delicious – – and in unlimited supply. Like the brunch table at that swanky Bar Mitzvah you heard about but weren’t invited to. Maybe it’s been there all along, but I was astounded at all the options this year.

5) Tchotchkes – Flo bobble-heads (from Progressive Insurance), t-shirts, cozies, pens, etc. I was lucky to be on the floor close to the show’s end, and scored a nice bottle of Magueye Sweet Sap – – an old-but-new, tasty alternative sweetener. You heard it here first.

6) Umami – OK, there are 5 flavors now, just like there are 8 planets. Forget what you learned as a kid. It’s here, it’s savory, and it means great taste. A whole area was devoted to just umami.

7) Greek Yogurt – – it’s alive! And not just in plastic containers any more. Not only were Greek yogurt-based dessert options shown that more closely resembled ice cream sundaes, there was also Greek yogurt cheesecake, mac and cheese, and more. Hmm…starts out as a healthy option, now loaded with sugar and other stuff. We’ve seen this before: energy bars, muffins, etc.

7) Technology – from the large booths of companies like NEC and IBM, to small software entrepreneurs, at times the NRA looked more like a technology convention. Whether hi-tech signage, online menu management software, or nutritional scoring, technology seems almost as important as the food in enabling operators to compete profitably. Judging by a lot of sameness in some of the standard food offerings, perhaps it’s already passed food in importance…

9) Alternative ordering/delivery – GrubHub/Seamless, MobileTummy and others were pitching all manner of new ways to hook people up with food. Order online, order by mobile, have it delivered, have it ready – – another case where technology is enabling options that are designed to match the way people live.

10) Focus on kids’ health – consistent with NRA’s own Kids Live Well program, there were quite a few exhibitors focusing on not only healthier fare that kids might actually eat, but techniques to evaluate nutritional content and make good choices as foodservice operators, as well as consumer-friendly apps to make it easier to find a restaurant with kid-friendly offerings.

And now to the Stairmaster.

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Posted in Marketing and Media, New Products, Retailing, Trade Shows and tagged Aaron Sanchez, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, Australian Wagyu Beef, Ditka's, Food, Food Network, Foodservice, Gluten-free, greek yogurt, GrubHub, jamon iberico de bellota, Kids Live Well, Maguey, Maguey Sweet Sap, MobileTummy, National Restaurant Association, NRA, Peruvian food, Restaurant, Robert Irvine, Seamless, smoked salmon, spinach balls, umami. Bookmark the permalink.

Warby Parker, and why Brands Don’t Matter

Posted on May 16, 2013 by davetuchler

Brands don’t matter?!? Blasphemer! Heretic! Neanderthal! Republican! Put down that crack pipe!

This is of course counter to everything you hear (and if you know me, everything I say).

But it’s true, with an asterisk: Brands often DON’T matter – – until they do. Then they matter a lot. It all depends on what value is delivered.

At the risk of alienating my friends in the branding business: look at some of the more successful recent brands , or just brands you’ve used everyday and never really thought about (Yahoo! Google. Zappos. Ebay. Subway. Apple. AT&T. Starbucks. Blackberry. Target. Kindle. MiO. Allegra.). Even better, musical artists: Stone Temple Pilots. Foo Fighters. Neutral Milk Hotel. Arcade Fire. Queen – – no, strike that last one. Anyway, you get the point – – does any of these in any way describe the product or service? (and let’s not get started on prescription medicines…). Asked another way, did the brand have a material impact on success?

Which brings us to Warby Parker. Warby Parker is a relatively new web-driven mail-order prescription eyeglass business that has totally disrupted this space. The concept: shop online, they send you 5 frames to try out at home, you pick one, get them your prescription and you’re immediately sent designer eyeglasses for $95! So from a value perspective it’s a great deal – – sort of in the same mold as Target – – call it cheap chic or funky frugal or whatever – – their value recipe is cooking right now.

But that’s not all. Like Zappos, WP have distinguished themselves with over the top customer service. Every message, call, post or Tweet is answered personally, promptly, and cheerfully. The combination of value and service has created a significant buzz that is helping to propel the business very quickly.

So where does the ‘Warby Parker’ name come from? Who cares?* — because of a winning value proposition and excellent execution, it NOW means something very valuable and unique that drives customer loyalty – -and that’s the value of a brand.

*According to the WP website, it is actually a combination of two characters’ names from Jack Kerouac’s work.

Sure, the exceptions to the ‘brands don’t matter’ statement could fill an e-book: Oikos and Chobani convey Greek; Twitter suggests short bursts of conversation; SquareSpace describes a computer screen, Orapup means something to do with a dog’s mouth, etc. These and others can help quickly telegraph what’s going on, particularly where authenticity is critical or where marketing funds are limited. And certain brands can definitely convey a sense of quirkiness — or seriousness — that is core to the product or service’s desired positioning.

However – – while many electrons are spilled proclaiming the value of brands, the most important thing is ultimately not the brand itself, but the lasting value and relevance that the brand delivers.

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Posted in Branding, Marketing Strategy and tagged brand value, brands, Jack Kerouac, Twitter, Warby Parker, Zappos. Bookmark the permalink.

Restaurant: Impossible — When a Do-over Becomes a Don’t-over

Posted on April 29, 2013 by davetuchler

When a business is flagging and a fix is needed, one option is a so-called make-over – changing the value proposition in some fundamental way. But whether it’s a new coat of paint or a full shock treatment, it needs to be done thoughtfully – – even the most brilliant plans require consistent execution, cultural buy-in and consideration of the existing audience. We naturally illustrate this complex business concept with a reality TV show.

Viewers of Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible are familiar with the premise: Robert Irvine, the heavily muscled and overbearing ex-British Royal Navy chef (think BCG consultant with no quadrant charts but much bigger arms), is given $10,000 and 2 days to fix a failing mom-and-pop restaurant, usually with some loyal customers but mostly declining sales. Using a time-tested recipe of fast-track remodeling, menu conversion, come-to-Jesus chastising of waitstaff and awkward family interventions, liberally seasoned with shouted bullying, he ‘helps’ the owners open a new version, to unanimous (although not always articulate) acclaim of the capacity-straining first night patrons. Voila! Happy tears and promises to stick to the plan. Using a solid executional game plan, these restaurants look transformed and set for future success.

Each episode’s epilogue boasts about resulting increased business; these stories are catalogued on the FN website.

But does everyone really live happily ever after? I snooped around and discovered that the show’s final scene is not necessarily indicative of the longer-term outcome. There are numerous breakdowns in food, consistency, and service.

Using Yelp.com reviews of a few transformed restaurants, here are some typical comments.

– Show Claim: “Since Robert left, sales have increased 85%“. Typical review: “The food is just as bad as it was prior to Robert’s makeover. The menu is no longer one page. They are book style, dirty, and sticky. As far as the wait staff they need to go. Final thoughts…don’t go.”

– Show Claim: “Business is up by $30,000 following the renovation”. Typical review: “…you can see where Robert’s team did their magic for decorating, but it ends there! Tables have paint chips/scuffs and look kind of crappy…floors weren’t swept, waitress wasn’t at desk when we walked in and had to wipe off our table prior to us being seated! I think we could have gotten food just as good if not better at a bowling alley! I will not be going there ever again!”

– Show Claim: 40% increase in YOY business for first 2 months. Typical review: “I would return for the wings but everything else was pretty average.” Note: Restaurant CLOSED.

The point: without an organizational commitment to faithfully execute the plan, all the planning in the world can be for naught.

——-

In addition, a number of the owners subsequently brought back some of their restaurant’s traditional featured items, which Chef Irvine had cut from the menu – – and they did it based on customer demand.

Testimonial from one makeover recipient who needed to make his own adjustments:

“We had to bring back our beef cannelloni, even though that dish is frozen,” said John Meglio of Meglio’s Italian Grill and Bar in Bridgeton, Mo. “Chef Irvine kept telling us that we needed to make more fresh food, and that makes perfect sense. But what he didn’t know is that people here have been eating frozen pasta from this one supplier in St. Louis for the last 50 years.”

Meglio continues: “The food was good; it just didn’t fly. You make too many changes too fast and all it’ll do is upset people. And the changes upset people to the tune of not coming back.”

Cannelloni

Another owner was aware of the need to balance current and future customers.

He recruited his brother, a chef, who took a look around and issued a dire prediction in the wake of the initial publicity.

“He said, ‘You won’t have time to build a new reputation, and in the meantime your old customers won’t like what’s happened and will leave,’ ” Mr. Queisser said. “And he was right. Ten or 12 weeks later, it was like the lights went out.”

There is a well-done account of this from the NY Times.

—-

In fairness, some of the made-over restaurants clearly have benefited. But it’s clear that without both excellent executional follow-through and attention to customer acceptance, the best-laid plans from the best consultants in the world will be as stale as yesterday’s Tiramisu.

JCPenney, Fresh and Easy, Webvan: “Did someone remember to tell the customer how brilliant we are”?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by davetuchler

OK, that headline is a bit harsh. But so is the world of retailing – – no matter how high-concept and inspired a new retailing idea is, if it doesn’t integrate the core consumer in the development process, there could be trouble. We will respectfully dance on a few graves and illustrate with 3 cases.

Case 1: JCPenney. By now we all know that Ron Johnson flew a bit too close to the sun, banking on his reputation and the obvious hubris gained during his successful run at Apple. He applied the Apple Store model (where the stars were ultimately the products) to JCPenney, with an immediate switch to an everyday pricing approach (since reversed), and store remodels including branded mini-boutiques. All, famously, without testing. The result: a disastrous $4 billion sales slide, imploding stock price, his ouster and most recently JCP looking to the capital markets to secure another $1 billion in operating cash. Ouch.

—> Diagnosis: Less brilliant, more tone-deaf. The plan counted on consumers to see things Ron’s way: “Hey! JCP now offers reliable low pricing all the time, so you can trust us!” The catch: consumers apparently liked the way they already shopped – -they were used to buying on deal, and there was not much merchandise at JCP that couldn’t be bought elsewhere. And elsewhere is apparently where consumers went.

Case 2: Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets. British supermarket giant Tesco announced it will shutter and take a $1.5 billion write-down on its F&E chain, after cumulative losses exceeding $1 billion and 5 years after noisily entering the California market. Fresh & Easy, which famously touted its in-depth consumer research, opened smaller format (10,000 sq. ft) stores and promised “convenience, fresh produce and tasty prepared foods” (LA Times).

FreshEasy PB&Pickle

—>Diagnosis: They didn’t walk the talk. Rather than truly adapting to Americans’ shopping habits, Tesco essentially imported its own model and assumed that customers would do the adapting. A few examples of British norms that didn’t make it here: pre-wrapped produce (heavy on the watercress!) and pre-packaged sandwiches (but no fresh deli), fewer familiar branded products in favor of higher-priced private label, and a policy against couponing.

According to respected researcher The Hartman Group: “We believed then, and said it repeatedly in the following years, that Tesco had an innate desire — an arrogance if you will — to do things their way rather than make adjustments that catered to the needs and expectations of American shoppers. Despite Tesco’s vaunted success in the European marketplace, the resulting retail experience in Fresh & Easy was artificial, sterile and increasingly without a relevant proposition.” (bold added)

Case 3: Webvan. The mother of all examples of misjudging the consumer. Founded in the late 1990s by Louis Borders (of bookstore fame), Webvan was an online grocery retailer offering delivery within a 30-minute window. Funded by Silicon Valley venture capital, Webvan hired away the president of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and was heavily capitalized ($1 billion for warehouse infrastructure, plus vans, computers, etc.) By 2001 Webvan was bankrupt (although subsequently bought by Amazon, where it exists in a much smaller form).

—> Diagnosis: Webvan management and investors incorrectly assumed that consumers would immediately adapt to their genius. Grocery buying is very personal, an ingrained habit, and expecting large numbers of people to abruptly abandon what they’ve been doing for years was naive at best. In the heady days of the dot-com bubble #1, funding was fast, and it was big (Borders himself said “It’s $10 billion or zero“. He was right). So the inclination was go big or go home, leading to huge advance spending, astronomical traffic expectations, and a spectacular flameout when consumers didn’t sign up as the financial pro formas had assumed. By one estimation, Webvan would have had to sign up two-thirds of the tech-savvy households in the San Francisco area. This is probably one of the best examples of misjudging (or conveniently ignoring) consumer input, breathing one’s own exhaust, as well as the adage ‘Easy come, easy go’. A short, fun post-mortem can be found here.

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Posted in Branding, Marketing Strategy, Retailing and tagged Borders, Fresh & Easy, Fresh and Easy, J.C. Penney, JC Penney, JCPenney, online grocery, Tesco, Webvan. Bookmark the permalink.

Are New NCAA ‘Play-Out’ Exhibition Games the Real Madness?

Posted on April 1, 2013 by davetuchler

You may have already heard that late Sunday night the NCAA abruptly announced the biggest change to the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball tournament (‘March Madness’) since at-large teams were first allowed in 1975 (previously only one team per conference was invited).

The short story: on Final Four Sunday, April 7, the day before the Final, there will be now be 3 so-called ‘Play-out’ exhibition games between former No. 1 or No. 2 regional seeds that have been eliminated (including Ohio State, Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Georgetown and Miami; specific matchups and times to be determined). These games carry no official significance but clearly will have strong fan appeal. CBS will schedule these games so as to not interfere with the Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast, which starts at 8pm EST.

NCAA officials explained these changes as an effort “to satisfy the unexpectedly strong recent demand among NCAA Basketball’s rapidly growing fan base, particularly internationally”. It is no secret that March Madness has evolved into an enormously popular event. Even President Obama took time from his schedule to weigh in. In addition, the event’s female viewers, already 48% of the audience, make up an increasingly ardent fan base. Still, satisfying new fans is not at the center of this decision.

The real motivator is much simpler: Money. Turner Sports and CBS, seeing early tournament exits by most of the more popular top seeds, are exploiting the networks’ unsurpassed ability to create more hours of high-quality entertainment. Advertisers have already signed on, and since the participating schools were offered a generous share of the revenues, gaining their participation was relatively simple. Only former No. 1 seed Gonzaga declined the offer, due to a conflict with a Tech N9ne concert in Seattle.

This is a sad example of short-sightedness, laying bare the craven quest for TV ratings that we now see is the real driver behind many of the sporting world’s decisions. Unfortunately, it is a severe body blow for the integrity of NCAA Basketball and big-time sports. Clearly, the theory goes, while everyone loves a Cinderella, you still don’t really expect huge numbers to tune in for Wichita State, right? So, why not just bring in the biggest names for a curtain call?

Here’s why – in this era of sports free-agency and seemingly limitless payrolls and budgets, it’s important to remember that the unexpected can and does happen – – with talent, grit and maybe a little luck, on any given day, David can slay Goliath. Hence the excitement for FGCU and Wichita State. They’re the real reason we tune in to March Madness, even if they do destroy our brackets. Diluting the event with meaningless games just for spectacle will only cheapen the NCAA brand while overshadowing the teams deserving of our attention.

So, a message to the NCAA, CBS and Turner Sports: you’ve got a jewel in the current March Madness (as long as the field doesn’t expand) – and it’s exactly what people are looking for — as is.

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Posted in Branding, Marketing and Media, Marketing Strategy and tagged CBS Sports, Duke, Final Four, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Indiana, Kansas, March Madness, March Sadness, Miami, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, NCAA March Madness, Ohio State, Tech N9ne, Turner Sports, Wichita State. Bookmark the permalink.

United Airlines, Mom’s Missing Jewelry, and the Asymmetry of Customer Feedback

Posted on March 28, 2013 by davetuchler

Dad used to say “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it”. Mom prefers the double-positive version.

What if people spent the same energy to praise good deeds as they do publicly complaining?

Someone rub you the wrong way? Got your knickers in a knot? Well, post it somewhere and see if you can get it to go viral.

It’s easy to rage publicly over real or perceived slights. We can turn millions against a company, deserved or not, while we bloviate in anonymity with no repercussions. It’s like punching the schoolyard bully in the face remotely from your basement. And generally, it’s how a lot of people tend to roll.

Well, sometimes companies actually do good things due to someone’s actions; unfortunately people seem to be less motivated to share when things turn out well – – isn’t that what we’re entitled to? – – so you’re not likely to hear about it. And so the story of United Airlines, my mom and the lost jewelry. But first a quick bit of context.

Remember the ‘United Broke My Guitar’ guy? Back in 2009 United Airlines broke his guitar and refused to compensate him for it. In frustration, he posted a song on YouTube (13 million hits), wrote a book, and became something of a travelers’ cause célèbre. Ultimately, of course, United realized it had screwed up, rightfully made him whole, and learned a painful lesson about ‘an ounce of medicine’ or something like that.

This weekend my 82 year old mother flew into town and discovered she had lost her jewelry bag. On her return trip, since she of course gets to the airport 4 hours early, she had time to check United lost & found. Lo and behold, not only did United have it, but the jewelry bag was immediately returned to her, intact and untouched!

It apparently had slipped out of her bag in the overhead compartment on the way over. This means not only did all the passengers, staff, and cleaning crew ignore a temptation, but somehow THE SYSTEM WORKED: It found its way to Lost and Found, was properly coded into the system, and a United representative was actually able and willing to locate it and immediately give it back to its owner. Wow.

I don’t know about you, but I lose more than my fair share of things and I NEVER get anything back. And this was a jewelry bag within a complex system with thousands of flights and hundreds of thousands of passengers daily. (Full disclosure: it was costume jewelry – – Mom’s been to the rodeo a few times – – but they didn’t know that).

This must happen with some regularity. So why don’t you generally see companies praised publicly for excellent customer service? Mom has been a professional pianist for over 60 years and is in fair voice, so she could do her version of Guitar Guy on YouTube, but she has a full schedule of 35 students a week and like all of us, is too busy.

I also suspect that praising a big company just isn’t cool; you’re not sticking it to the Man when you say something positive. This will be just one of many transactions of this United representative, the majority of which likely won’t have as happy an ending. And that’s too bad.

Maybe the readers of this post could forward it to a few people as a reminder that sometimes good things happen because someone gave extra effort, and that it wouldn’t be so bad to send out an Attaboy once in a while. See if you can get it picked up. You might just make someone’s day. Here’s a little primer on how to get started.

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Posted in Marketing Strategy, Social Media and tagged Customer Service, Jewelry, Online Compliments, Positive Comments, United Airlines, United Broke My Guitar. Bookmark the permalink.

Butterfly Bakery: Heading back into the cocoon

Posted on March 15, 2013 by davetuchler

Today’s news brings us the cautionary tale of Butterfly Bakery, which is no doubt trying to find a cocoon to hide in after an onslaught of mostly self-inflicted pain. This is primarily a lesson on the importance of transparency, authenticity and speed in the age of 24/7 public scrutiny.

The short story: Butterfly Bakery, a small Clifton, NJ baker of special baked goods (e.g. sugar-free, no sugar added, gluten-free, etc), is suffering through its 15 minutes of fame courtesy of the FDA, which forced it to close its doors after discovering that sugar and fat levels in several of its muffin and cookie products were well above what was claimed on the label. Selected products had 3x the stated levels of sugar and 2x the indicated amount of fat. This has led to some explanatory statements on the BB Facebook page and caused the charming looking website to be taken down. The Twitter feed has also stopped.

So — what’s the big deal? Isn’t this just another case of the government unfairly picking on the little guys while ignoring ‘big business’? After all, only 3 products of 45 were cited.

Well, yes and no — but mostly no.

– it turns out that the original FDA complaint is almost 2 years old, and that BB was well aware of the issues. Here is an excerpt from their Facebook statement: “Butterfly Bakery, Inc. acknowledges the claims in the FDA press release dated March 13, 2013. Butterfly Bakery voluntarily entered into a consent decree and has been working with the FDA and a team of technical and regulatory experts since May 31, 2011, to improve its processes and ensure compliance with all Butterfly Bakery products”. [bold added]

– May 2011? Based on comments on their FB page, their customer base was clearly not aware of anything, and they are now suitably outraged. 2 years is plenty of time to reformulate, repackage, explain to customers, and flush out all inventory. An FDA inquiry would seem to have been a strong hint to watch nutritional claims closely.

A matter of health – these products draw heavily from diabetics and celiac sufferers, for whom safe, tasty treats are often difficult to find. BB’s products apparently tasted great, which is now not surprising since that’s largely what sugar and fat are for. So whether intentional or not, BB enticed customers with better taste, while simultaneously putting them in danger because of misleading labeling. This is not just a case of ‘I’m mad you didn’t tell me’, it’s a case of putting consumers at risk.

You never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression – – Butterfly Bakery has now gotten its first national publicity, which is hugely negative, and they will forever be associated with this scandal. They will immediately forfeit retail distribution and may have trouble regaining it. But perhaps most importantly, they have violated the trust of their most important constituency – their customers, which may be impossible to restore.

Collateral damage – – other unrelated Butterfly Bakeries have already had to start issuing disclaimers that this doesn’t apply to them. But clearly potential customers will have pause before buying from them.

The upshot: Hindsight is 20/20, but Butterfly Bakery could have positioned themselves most positively back in 2011 if they had acknowledged some inaccuracies in labeling, offered refunds, and pledged to a new level of scrutiny. They would have been seen as being committed to their customers. Now the opposite is true, and their options are limited. At least they have not made the mistake of trying to fight hand-to-hand on Facebook (see Applebee’s case).

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Posted in Branding, Marketing Strategy, Social Media and tagged Butterfly Bakery, celiac disease, diabetes, diabetics, fat, FDA, Gluten-free, ingredients, labeling, no sugar added, sugar, sugar-free, Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes. Bookmark the permalink.

Natural Products Expo West – My Top 10 Observations

Posted on March 11, 2013 by davetuchler

Natural Products Expo West, just completed in Anaheim, bills itself as the largest natural and organic trade show in the world. At 1 million+ square feet, almost 2500 exhibitors and 63,000 attendees, it is certainly large by any measure. Having just finished walking most of those 1 million square feet, while my feet are temporarily elevated I have assembled an (unscientific) list of 10 noteworthy observations from the show (in no particular order).

1) Gluten-Free – – sure, it’s been a reliable presence for years, but it now seems that every other product at the show carried a gluten-free claim. For the most part, the products were delicious. Clearly this trend is maturing nicely and is here to stay.

2) Kale! Yes, kale. In all of its green, seaweed-tasting glory, manifested in all manner of baked goods, chips, and more. Let’s check back in about 3 years to see how this trend hangs in there.

3) Bars, bars, bars and more bars. Energy, fruit equivalence, satiety, muscle-enhancing, alertness, virility – – you name it, there’s a bar for it. Conservatively more than 100 entries. The good news: most of them actually taste very good. The bad news: there’s not enough shelf space in the world for all of them to survive.

4) Jerky – long a pariah at natural foods (aka aspiring vegan) shows, the snacks-with-parents segment was alive and well at Expo West 2013. Beef, turkey, chicken, bison, and many other animals as well as faux-meat soy product, this was a year where the trucker target was well-served. A regular Von Dutch treat, if you will.

5) the non-GMO conversation – Whole Foods changed the conversation at Expo West. By announcing its commitment to labelling all products that contain genetically modified organisms by 2018, WF elevated this topic from a subject you might bring up to show off your Euro-knowledge, to a regular (functional) water cooler staple. Everyone was talking about it; this announcement could be the tipping point in establishing non-GMO as a mainstream desired consumer benefit.

6) fewer ‘free from’ claims – with the obvious exception of non-GMO, there didn’t seem to be as many ‘free from’ or ‘less’ (fat, calories, sugar, etc) claims. Instead, it was all about what was in the foods – – whether protein, antioxidants, minerals, or any of a lot of other things.

7) Chips – apparently, at this show if a food was left unattended, someone came along and zapped it with the chip gun. How many things can you make into a chip? In addition to the now-mainstream PopChips, there were also falafel chips, pineapple coconut chips, chia chips, cookie chips, spinach chips, lentil chips, and yes, Virginia, there are kale chips too — lots of them.

8) High-end chocolates – – right up there in abundance with chips and nutrition bars, it seemed that every time you turned around, some smiling young person was shoving a piece of $7/bar chocolate in your face (which of course, you were too polite to refuse). The venerable gourmet segment pioneered by the likes of Lindt, now goes for $2-3/oz (and more) after being reinvented about 10 years ago with the unique entries from companies like Vosges (e.g. bacon, chile inclusions) and competitors have been piling in ever since. Mostly excellent products; again the sad part is that not all will survive.

9) Raw foods – this is an increasingly common theme for many new natural/organic products (and companies); it’s about foods that are the ultimate in closeness to nature – – unprocessed and uncooked. In a variety of different products – -and candidly there were a few I’m not sure I’d ingest before a 4 hour flight. The concept was really brought to life for me when a spokesperson for a nut and seed bar (with raw chia seeds!) explained that if he unwrapped his bar and planted it, it would grow. And all those childhood fears of orange trees growing in my stomach suddenly came rushing back.

10) Naturally enhanced – – I’m talking about the incredible variety of beverages (and just maybe also about some of the attendees). In a continuing crusade to provide the world with healthier and perhaps more politically correct alternatives to sugar/HFCS-sweetened drinks, Expo West really came through. Coconut or oatmeal (or chia) based, probiotic, macrobiotic, kombucha, it goes on and on and on – and this doesn’t even include the supplements. Yowza.

The only downside to the show was the sheer number, depth and quality of displays. Would have loved another few days – well, there’s always next year.

3 Comments

Posted in Marketing Strategy, New Products, Trade Shows and tagged Anaheim, chia, chocolate, energy bars, Expo West, functional beverages, Gluten-free, GMO, jerky, kale, natural, Natural Products Expo West, non-GMO, nutrition bars, organic, protein bars, raw foods, Top 10 Natural Food Trends, Top 10 Natural Foods, Top 10 Trends, vegan, Vosges, Whole Foods. Bookmark the permalink.

Orapup — A newfangled innovation to tackle dog breath — and have fun doing it

Posted on March 5, 2013 by davetuchler

Orabrush is in the business of cleaning human tongues. And they are growing their business by doing a fantastic job with their social media effort. But this isn’t about Orabrush – it’s about Orapup – – a line extension designed for guys like Nigel – – and about how company assets can be creatively leveraged to create new revenue streams.

First, about Orabrush – – their marketing effort, like your breath should be after using their product, is fresh, cool and quite personal. If you want a quick whiff, check out their website: cheeky home-grown and user-generated videos featuring a guy who looks like Neil Patrick Harris (a zillion YouTube views), not so tongue-in-cheek product claims, and a lot of we-don’t-take-ourselves-too-seriously fun. They have a counter of tongue brushes sold online; at the time of this writing it was at 2,982,076 – so if you were lucky, maybe you were able to watch it hit 3 million.

So how does a company like this innovate? Well, in some ways just what you’d expect; in others, the opposite.

They currently have a name, a product, a following, an online presence and retail distribution. In coming up with Orapup, they certainly leveraged technology, their name, and their online fans (who suggested the product in the first place). But because they can’t leverage a distribution system (Orabrush is not set up for pet channel distribution), rather than try to use media spending to first drive retail distribution for Orapup, they’ve done the reverse: in-depth data analysis of focused online ads to tweak the marketing formula dynamically, then focusing local online media to efficiently drive sales where there is distribution, growing organically from there. Ad Age did a good writeup; you can read it here. Love their video (the first 15 seconds are worth the price of admission):

Orapup has taken a decidedly modern approach: Crowdsourcing the idea, crowd funding (they raised an initial $60k and conducted research at the same time), generating buzz (and demand) by taking pre-orders online (they got 60,000 online orders to generate $750k revenue before shipping the first product), and THEN pulling the trigger on shipping product and driving retail distribution. In this way, they’ve leveraged their loyal followers, created pent-up demand, covered some of the upfront investment, and delivered a product that has demonstrated demand. All while mitigating the typical risks of a new product (stale product on shelves, etc.)

This is an excellent example of a few things:

– ‘Traditional’ marketing is an endangered species – – sometimes it’s best to avoid the tried and true – -marketers need to creatively leverage the evolving array of available resources and experiment with new approaches.

– Empowering consumers to have a voice in product development can reduce development time/cost/risk (and avoid aimless R&D safaris) – – in addition to creating an enthusiastic group of advocates.

– Let the numbers be your friend – – by constantly monitoring, analyzing and adjusting, marketers can optimize their marketing mix and quickly respond to marketplace changes

Orapup is a fun product that has extended the Orabrush franchise with low risk, manageable investment, and arguably a nice shot of positive buzz that is consistent with the overall fun brand persona.

It is a great example of how to creatively innovate.

2 Comments

Posted in Branding, Marketing Strategy, Social Media and tagged canine, crowd sourcing, dogs, Orabrush, Orapup, tongue cleaners, YouTube. Bookmark the permalink.

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