February 23, 2010
Despite Tough Times, Customers Still Keep Trying Out Well Known Brand Names
A new brand survey links well known brand names to most frequently tried new products in 2010.
Starbucks was the number one brand tried by consumers last year, followed by Dunkin' Donuts Coffee and Celestial Seasons Tea. Most of the other brands that people tried (Chex Mix, Ritz, Special K, Lysol and Clorox) were also well known. This was especially so when it came to cleaning products.
Starbucks came out on top? I thought conventional wisdom said you should cut out the Starbucks during a recession. Seems that the ultra premium brand is still attracting converts, as are many other well known, pricier brand names
Beverages had the most brand name recognition with coffee products being the most tried by consumers. Funny enough, 44% of consumers tried a new brand of snack within the last 30 days. Those same snackers also were opting for healthier cereals, with Kashi and Special K getting special mention across categories.
The bottom line? Long term, well known brand names attracted the most new customers.
Score one for the power of a brand name, even in tough times.
Technorati Tags: Brands, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Celestial Seasons, Names, Trial
Posted by William Lozito at 10:40 AM| Comments (0)
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February 5, 2010
Wine Naming and Branding For the Down and Out
If you haven't noticed, wine naming has gone downmarket in a big way. And I mean a big way.
The recession has affected winemakers as well as everyone else and there is a rush on to rename and repackage wine for the thrifty consumer. Which has led to some interesting (read funny) crossover into the brown bag booze branding brigade. The New York Times has identified the lowest of the low and it's (drum roll, please) Wild Irish Rose.
This stuff is NOT good. One blogger reviews it thus: "Seriously, if given the choice between living under a bridge and having Irish Rosie to look forward to every night or simply hanging myself, I'd choose suicide without a second thought."
This really will not do the Irish wine industry much good at 18% alcohol by volume and around $2 a bottle, it is the drink of choice for the down and out. But, interestingly, many people in suits and ties seem to be buying it, as well as Jäger Bombs, which may actually be more dangerous than 'The Rose.'
For those of us looking for more savory alternatives, why not check out a new concept in wine packaging: wine in a glass.
It seems to be a hit in the UK and is used to sell quaffable units of Château Roubine's Grand Cru Classé Côtes de Provence made by the prestigious French Château Roubine. Here, you can literally buy a glass of the good stuff if you cannot afford a bottle.
Feeling a little risqué? How about some Red Leight Rosé, which some feel is "perfect for Hollywood celebrity bashes." Um, OK, maybe. Cristal has that niche wrapped up, sorry.
A quick round up of weird wine names shows a preference for down market, totally irreverent naming and branding. On one blog we have
- Bitch
- Le Vin de Merde
- Oops, Frog's Piss
- Cat's Pee On a Gooseberry Bush
Technorati Tags: Wine, Bitch, Naming, Leighton Meester
Posted by William Lozito at 8:40 AM| Comments (0)
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January 19, 2010
Coke, Apple: When Branding and Naming Isn't Branding and Naming
Sometimes a brand name is not a brand name. Instead, it's a placeholder or an internal code name for another brand new product. It's an approach used when a company does not want to tip off the competition.
Take for instance, the MacGuffin that Apple seems set to release on Jan 27. We are all wondering if it will be called an iSlate, but Apple is keeping mum.
However, in a recent 'Save the Date' release to information starved journalists, Apple asks invites writers to, "Come see our latest creation," which just sounds downright creepy. It's like some kind of techno speak for a new baby.
What is it? What will it be called? We have no idea. They have dropped a few hints, though. The invitation is decorated with bright ink splotches, suggesting that "colour may be an important feature of the new product."
Coke, another brand we all know and love, is busy testing out a 90 calorie version. Well, sort of. They are offering us a 7.5 oz can, as opposed to the the regular 12 oz can. You get less, so you consume less calories.
So this is sort of a new name but sort of not. It certainly doesn't seem to come with a new price.
One blogger jokingly calls it "Wee-Coke," while Amy Brightfield wonders if we really will drink less of it, or just crack open two cans, making for a 15 oz, 180 calorie Coke drinking experience.
If that happens, Jennifer LaRue Huget asks "whose fault is that?"
Technorati Tags: AppleMacintosh, iSlate, tablet, Coke, mini, 90 calories
Posted by William Lozito at 8:32 AM| Comments (0)
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December 2, 2009
el Jimador New Mix Borrows Soft Drink Brand Naming to Compete with Beer
Today my mind is on tequila. Specifically el Jimador's "New Mix" cocktail
in can.
To quote the Tequila Examiner, there will be three types of these New Mix drinks, including "Spicy Mango Margarita, the Paloma (the most popular tequila cocktail in Mexico), and the Margarita (the #1 requested cocktail in the U.S.)."
The campaign to sell the stuff will begin this month in California and roll out across the USA.
The brand name, el Jimador, is what the master harvester of agave plants is called, but I'm more interested in just how closely the artwork resembles that of soft drinks. Canned cocktails compete directly with beers and even have about the same percentage of alcohol, but soft drinks might skew slightly young for margaritas.
One blogger even describes the stuff as being similar to a soft drink and the company's branding seems to do very little to dispel that impression. This simply does not look much like an alcoholic drink.
The product comes from the very respected Casa Herradura, one of the top tequila producers in Mexico, which in turn is owned by Brown-Forman of Louisville, KY.
So even though Brown-Forman may be targeting beer, particularly "Mexican imports and flavored beers like Bud Light Lime," you can't help but wonder if they are also trying to make mixed drinks look more appealing to the younger markets.
Technorati Tags: Margarita Mix, el Jimador, New Mix, Brown-Forman, Casa Herradura, Spirit Naming, Mixed Drink Naming, Soft Drink Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 9:45 AM| Comments (0)
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November 16, 2009
Coca Naming and Branding: Watch Out Coke, Kūka Is Here
As faithful readers of this blog know, I am often amused by the world of energy drinks and the launch of Kūka, another coca-based drink, brings a smile to my face this Monday.
Not because this is a particularly wacky name, although it does sound a little cuckoo, but because it is yet another name that tries to sidestep the biggest coca drink in the world: Coca-Cola.
The key ingredient in this 100% natural beverage is "hand-picked Andean coca leaves." The web site boasts "called by its original name, Kūka [Koo-ka] is a curiously complex all-natural non-carbonated coca leaf beverage straight from the heart of the Andes."
They even have loads of testimonials on the Kūka blog site, and some bloggers have noted that the stuff mixes well with whiskey and also with rum, leading us to wonder who exactly is paying top dollar to mix this subtle, natural drink with all of its "medicinal and nutritional values" in a drink.
This is the "signature" beverage for Kuka Drink, Inc. (note the lack of a macron mark over the "u" in the company naming"). The web site for the company promises us a drinking experience without the sugar "jolt" that other, nameless coca drinks give you (cough, Coke, cough).
The slogan is "Feel the Andes" and I suppose this mellow, green package design serves well enough.
The name, of course, is yet another attempt by somebody trying, once again, to sell us on the "good" kind of coca leaf (as opposed to the white stuff and that fizzy stuff from you know who).
Back in 2005, a company named Coca Sek ("Coca of the Sun") tried to re-establish the "good name of the coca leaf" - the drink was sold in Bogata Columbia by people who touted it as the answer to Coke's "imperialist domination." But of course, they did like that Coca name.
Kūka is not an anti-Coke drink but it's hard not to think of Coke when you say the name.
Frankly, I think all of these drinks are well served by the fact that we are all used to drinking Coke. Selling a drink from the coca leaf just isn't that big a leap for most of us.
Technorati Tags: Kūka, Energy Drink, Coca-Cola, Beverages, Coca Leaf
Posted by William Lozito at 9:37 AM| Comments (0)
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September 29, 2009
Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Faces an Instant Product Naming Problem
Today Starbucks will start offering its instant coffee brand called VIA Ready Brew to customers across the United States and Canada.
I noted the appearance of VIA earlier this year in their Seattle and Chicago shops and I was extremely skeptical. I remain so.
Although, I would like to somewhat water down (excuse the pun) my earlier skepticism now that I have had some time to think about this development.
At first glance, Starbucks selling instant coffee is a marketing blunder - Starbucks is about high end coffee, not the mix stuff.
However, Starbucks might actually pull this off if they can overcome two challenges.
The first is, of course, a naming issue.
"Via" means "to go" or "the way," which is in fact a strong product name.
The problem is the category name "instant coffee." While Europeans like the stuff, Americans see it as cheap and bad-tasting.
Starbucks has tried to move away from the "instant coffee" label by referring to VIA, which comes in single serving cylindrical packages, as "Ready Brew."
The problem is not the coffee, people. It's the negative associations attached to the instant coffee category name. And if anyone else but Starbucks were attempting this, I'd say that getting around it is pretty much impossible.
The thing is, Starbucks is, for most people, the group that got us to drink things like Ventis and Frappuccinos, and made us feel privileged to fork over big bucks for it. Getting us to call instant coffee Ready Brew should be pretty easy for them (at least you can pronounce it).
They are not selling instant coffee, they are selling a portable Starbucks experience.
The second problem should be a bit easier to solve. The blogosphere is filled with snarky comments about the price of the stuff (a buck a cup). One reviewer says primly that that is "over 10 times the price of other instants, which come in at closer to 8 cents a cup."
Well, I can recall when drip coffee in a restaurant was less than a buck. Starbucks was the one who changed that. They've been happily charging us a fortune for coffee that we can make at home for a fraction of the price for over a decade.
A buck a cup? Heck, for Starbucks fans, that's a bargain.
Technorati Tags: Starbucks Brand, Starbucks Via, Coffee Product Naming, Via Ready Brew, Instant Coffee Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 8:08 AM| Comments (2)
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September 23, 2009
Private Label Brand Naming 'Losing Steam' vs Top Brand Names
So it seems that name brand foods are fighting the good fight against store brands.
Store brands have seen a real upswing in sales in the last few months thanks to consumers' new spendthriftiness, but name brands aren't about to just throw in the towel.
Proctor and Gamble, for its part, started the resurgence by lowering prices and is expecting to see a growth in sales by the end of the year.
Con-Agra and General Mills are also staving off the store brands via promotions and the fact that more and more consumers are staying home for dinner and turning to brands they know and love.
Additionally, name brand companies have a higher profit margin than their slashed-to-the-bone store brand competitors, which over the long run has served them well.
Reports that consumers are moving towards a price orientated buying strategy thanks to the economic pinch, seem to have been made prematurely. Trusted brand names appear to be weathering the storm, no matter what they cost.
In fact, branded food labels have been upping their prices as private label sales trends have "lost steam."
I do think that private label brand naming is really impressive. And it may be true that private labels are learning to be more competitive, but well-known brand names aren't backing down from the fight anytime soon.
Technorati Tags: Name Brand, Private Label, Store Brands, Branding Trends, Product Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 10:15 AM| Comments (0)
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