How has Oreo Become America's Favorite Cookie?

To me, an Oreo represents more than a delicious, fattening snack, but also an important part of my childhood.  I can remember when I was a kid opening my lunch at school to find three Oreos as a dessert nearly every day.  In fact, the best times of the year was when the Oreos started having the seasonal-colored creme like orange for Halloween, red for Christmas, and green for spring. 

When asked to write about our own personal Oreo experience, I immediately remembered an awful situation I had as a child.  My mom had just taken me to get my teeth cleaned at our dentist right down the street.  After waiting approximately zero seconds after getting home, I dove head first into a package of Oreos, completely erasing the positive cleaning effects of the fluoride treatment I had gotten just ten minutes prior.  My mom (who was absolutely furious) sent me directly to my room after scrubbing my teeth for what seemed like an eternity.  The next day, I opened my lunchbox that lacked the one thing I had grown accustomed to--Oreos. 

What is surprising to me is how a brand can become so iconic and represent a big part in millions of people's lives.  The same phenomenon is present with Twinkies and how people were outraged when the company went bankrupt last year.  You could ask anyone what an Oreo means to them and would end up hearing countless stories of childhood memories like my own.  Oreo has reached this level by continuing to deliver a beloved product year after year.  People have been able to create an emotional attachment to a product which is not easily achieved by many brands.  However, if a marketer can get this to occur, they should have no problem establishing their brand as a leader in the marketplace. 

Week Four: "Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read"

In this weeks class, we focused on legendary advertising executive, Leo Burnett.  Burnett is best known for his work with Kellogg's, Maytag and Marlboro.  Most notably, Burnett's firm created the iconic Marlboro Man which served the brand from its creation in 1954 all the way until 1999.  Burnett's marketing strategy was based on a few different concepts.  Simplicity was one of the most important elements involved in the majority of his works.  What made the Marlboro Man so iconic and successful was the simplicity behind it.  Marlboro was originally made for women and wanted to shift their brand image, so Burnett created a relatable, blue-collar, American man that could attract the male market.  The simplicity behind this idea was that men would be inspired to buy Marlboro cigarettes if they knew other "common" men were doing it too.  This concept blends nicely with another one of Burnett's critical elements; knowing your brand.  The Marlboro man was not only memorable, but also became successful because he was a representation of the brand itself.  Burnett studied who Marlboro's desired target market was, analyzed them thoroughly, and created a memorable campaign that was a successful image of what the brand represented. 

Even though the Marlboro Man represents the rugged side of Burnett's genius, he also had a softer side as evident through his work for Kellogg's.  Burnett is known for creating the characters of Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes and Charlie the Tuna for StarKist Tuna.  These characters were designed with one thing in mind: simplicity.  The characters are relatable, memorable, and fun which is partly what made them so successful.  They made something as boring as breakfast cereal or tuna fish into something that made people want to purchase the product, which was of course Burnett's goal. 

Get Creative with your Creative Process

A creative process can be a difficult concept to comprehend.  Everyone works differently, therefore everyone has a different interpretation of what the creative process means.  While some people find it easy to put their process into words, I personally found it pretty difficult.  However, here is what I came up with for how I work best when trying to creatively:

The Creative Process

1. Take a seat somewhere comfy and assess your task at hand.
2. Clear your mind of all distractions.
3. Forget that . . . take a five minute break to watch some cat videos on YouTube.
4. Got enough inspiration?  Get back to work!
5. Brainstorm, brainstorm, ask questions and brainstorm again.
6. Congratulations, you have your first small idea!
7. Wait, that idea is garbage . . . back to the drawing board! There will always be roadblocks.
8. Clear your mind again and repeat steps 3-7, then see step 9.
9. A genius idea!
10. Write absolutely everything down for further inspiration.  You won't regret it.
11. Keep adding to your genius idea until your problem is solved!

Like I said before, the creative process is different for everyone!  Personally, I work better when I take multiple breaks and I can find inspiration at literally any time--even in the middle of the night.  The point of the creative process is that with enough brainstorming, questioning, and creative thinking, you will eventually reach that big idea that will solve your problem. 

Week Three: Blonde's Have More Fun

 

Who is Shirley Polykoff?

You may not know her name, but chances are you have come in contact with some of her work.  Throughout the 1950s, Shirley was instrumental in the adaption of hair coloring product Miss Clairol into the United States marketplace.  Previously, coloring one's hair in the US was considered taboo--a practice only used by actresses and prostitutes.  Polykoff's visionary taglines "Blondes have more fun" and "Does she . . . or doesn't she?" captivated women across the country and made the process of hair coloring a natural thing, because with Miss Clairol hair coloring products, no one could tell if you were using their product, eliminating the negative stigma.  After the campaign was launched, hair color sales in the United States increased by 500%.  Polykoff's slogan used persuasion to help sway an entire nation's opinion of a product.


The lesson I took from this week's class is that a catchy slogan can turn your brand into a huge success.  This got me thinking of many different brand's slogans.  Which ones are successful? Which ones are forgettable? Whenever I hear "I'm lovin' it," I immediately think of McDonald's--making this an effective slogan.  However, there are many companies with slogans that actually cause some people to think of their competition--making these poor choices for a catchphrase. Some slogans have been so played out that they are no longer effective and can often give people a poor image of the brand.  For example, (continuing with my hatred for anything Geico-related), Geico's slogan "So easy, a caveman could do it" has been completely played out and has become extremely annoying in my opinion.

What are some of your favorite brand slogans?  Least favorites?  Comment below!

Twinkie Buyer Persona

Now that we have narrowed down who buys a Twinkie in an "I am" statement, we can also express this data along with additional information in a statement called a "buyer persona."  A buyer persona is basically a template that explains who it is you are trying to target your marketing efforts towards.

According to the Simmons data, the average Twinkie buyer in the United States is a Caucasian female between the ages of 45 and 54.  In addition, they are much more likely to live in the Mid-West United States or the Pacific Coast.  The majority of Twinkie buyers are high school graduates and are either full time college students or hold a full time blue-collar job.  For those Twinkie buyers who work full time, the average salary is under $30,000/year.  A Twinkie buyer is also more likely to live in a home with more children who are under sixteen years of age.  From a political perspective, Twinkie buyers tend to take the middle-of-the-road stance.  Many Twinkie buyers are often on the go, so they rarely have time to bake desserts of their own.  In this case, Twinkies are the perfect substitute to feed younger kids.  For entertainment, 22% of Twinkie buyers find an interest in the National Football League which could directly correlate to the higher amount of free time on the weekends when football is generally broadcast.  The average Twinkie buyer does not have much interest in NASCAR, Rodeo, or Professional Wrestling.

The sports/entertainment data used in this buyer persona is presented in the following cross tabulation:

Through the Simmons database, there are countless fields that have data regarding buyers of Twinkies that you could also incorporate into the buyer persona or "I am" statement including what kind of books they like to read, what movie genre they prefer, and what types of TV shows they usually watch.  Buyer personas can be extremely helpful to marketers because it provides them with the information regarding exactly who they want to target their ad campaigns towards.

Okay, Who REALLY Eats a Twinkie?

In class, we were faced with the interesting question: Who really eats a Twinkie?  In order to answer this question, we first needed to look at and analyze the Simmons data that we were given in class.  Once we took a closer look at the data, we were able to paint a fairly clear picture of who purchases a Twinkie in the United States.  In fact, some of the findings based on the Simmons data were really interesting and not exactly what I expected.  The following represents an "I am" statement about the consumer profile of someone who purchases a Twinkie.  Obviously, this is not from my own personal point of view, because I am not a middle-aged woman!


"I am a white woman between the ages of 45 and 54 living in the Mid-West United States.  Even though I live in a rural area, I still make sure to buy a box of Twinkies every time I go to the grocery store.  I am a high school graduate and am employed full time with an annual income between $15,000 and $30,000.  I share my home with my husband and two children--both of which are under seventeen.  They have loved Twinkies since they were little, and still do today.  Even though I do not personally eat Twinkies, the rest of my family can't get enough of them!"


Based on this "I am" statement, it is clear that this is only taking into account a small sample that was used for the Simmons analysis.  While the survey did not take into account everyone in the United States, it paints a clear picture of who the average Twinkie consumer is in the United States today.  There are plenty of other criteria that could be used to narrow this down even further, but based on the data we were given, it is a pretty clear description!

Week Two: David Ogilvy

 

This week and class we delved further into the world of advertising campaigns and the people that created them.  Specifically, we focused on David Ogilvy who is best known for his creation of countless ad campaigns for major companies.  One of the most important points Ogilvy made was that brand image is everything.  Without a positive brand image, no one will want to buy your product.  In order to improve a brand's image, Ogilvy stressed the concept of telling your customers the truth while making the truth sound fascinating. 

The most prominent use of this tactic by Ogilvy is the "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" campaign.  Ogilvy was able to take something as common and dull as a dress shirt and make it exciting simply by using the right character.  Each ad for Hathaway Shirts featured the same man in a common situation.  The appeal to these ads was that in each ad, the man was wearing an eye patch.  Immediately upon seeing the ad, I wondered why the man was wearing an eye patch and it made me want to know more.  This ads to the intrigue of the ad and makes the customers want to know more, all while improving brand image.  In my opinion, Ogilvy's campaign would not have been nearly as successful if he had used a model without an eye patch because it lacks intrigue and is simply ordinary. 

Currently, I can think of countless companies that have a poor image, yet aren't doing anything to fix it.  In my own opinion, I view pretty much any insurance company negatively because of the horrible ads they create (I'm looking at you, Geico and Progressive).  Although, I do have to give them credit for trying to turn something as boring as insurance into something interesting by using different commercials.  However, it is the commercials themselves and the ad campaigns they are coming from that make me hate these companies because the campaigns are so over the top.  Honestly, I wouldn't even consider using Geico for insurance simply because of the Gecko and I would never use Progressive because of Flo and her obnoxious antics.  This just goes to show that your brand image can make or break your brand, and in my own mind, both Geico and Progressive are broken brands to me. 

Week 1: What's the Point?

 

My name is Brian Lamy and I am a senior marketing-communications/advertising major here at WNE.  I have always had an interest in marketing--specifically social media and television advertisements.  Although I am still undecided on which career path I would like to take, ideally I would love to be an account executive for Anheuser-Busch, or possibly a career in public relations.

During our first week of class, we were posed with the question "What is the point?"  This may seem like a very broad question, but when viewed from the perspective of a marketer, it becomes more clear.  The first thing we talked about on day one was the Hostess company's Twinkie and the cult following that the snack cake has gathered over the years.  What did Hostess do right to create such an iconic snack with millions of loyal customers?  Why were these customers so outraged and even heartbroken when the company declared bankruptcy and the Twinkie was no more? This directly back to the question "What is the point?"  The point of Hostess' marketing efforts was to create an iconic snack cake that people would love for years.  The Twinkie has the power to bring back memories of childhood and "the good old days" even though it is just an unhealthy snack.  This point was highlighted even more when Hostess declared bankruptcy and people were no longer able to buy Twinkies or other Hostess products for that matter.  People were actually physically upset that this part of their life had been taken from them, showing how meaningful Twinkies are and how effective the Twinkie is as a brand.  In my opinion, any brand that can develop a cult following is a successful brand, and Hostess has done so with the creation of the Twinkie.

In our next class, we talked about Claude Hopkins who popularized the revolutionary marketing strategy of pointing out a unique selling proposition (USP) or competitive advantage that one brand had over another and highlighted this advantage in the company's marketing efforts.  Hopkins created advertisements for the Schlitz beer company which highlighted the fact that Schlitz beer is legitimately "pure" because of all the steps they take to ensure the best product possible.  For Hopkins, the "point" was to differentiate your brand from the competition in order to strengthen your public image and attract new customers.  By highlighting was your brand does differently over the competition, you are setting yourself apart and possibly improving your brand's image.

In my opinion, the "point" of this weeks lesson is that there are many different elements of marketing that all need to be taken into account when trying to create a successful campaign.  While a USP is extremely important, it is also equally as important to create a solid product that can develop a cult following like the Twinkie.  Each element plays a role in the success of other elements, and without all these elements working together, your brand may find it very challenging to become successful.