Hellmann's Gets Real

What do you do when the world seems obsessed with dieting, fat and calories? When every product is promoting it is low-fat, fat-free, low-carb, high fiber or zero calorie? When everybody is on a diet, gobbling up calorie reduced manufacture foods yet still hungry, miserable and (at least in the U.S.) fat?

It is the dilemma facing most food and beverage brands today. Some products have the luxury of being all-around healthy award winners like water.

But most foods always have a downside. Too much fat, sugar, carbs, cholesterol, chemicals or calories. Or they taste terrible like brussel sprouts.

Most foods also usually have something good about them too. But then there are some foods that are simply viewed as the all-around food enemy.

So what do you do when you are selling the enemy? A high calorie, high cholesterol, high fat, diet sabotager.

Most companies would just promote the diet and light versions of the product. Then try not to make consumers feel too guilty when they continue to buy the regular stuff since it tastes much better. Not a good strategy.

Hellmann’s Mayonnaise was getting crushed by Kraft’s Miracle Whip which has half the fat of mayonnaise. Hellmann’s fought back with light and other versions. But as soon as you put diet, light or reduced on the label, instantly the product tastes bad in the mind.

The beauty of Miracle Whip is that the brand itself represents the low-fat idea. Like Snackwell’s did in cookies. Good strategy.

But Hellmann’s has recently struck back by taking a word that has been on the label for years and turning it into a powerful strategy. REAL.

Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise.

Nothing beats the real thing. Real is such a powerful idea, especially when it has an authentic connection to a brand like it does with Hellmann’s and Coca-Cola. Not using it is a first-degree branding crime.

I was impressed and delighted when I saw the new ad campaign and marketing program from Hellmann’s which reinforces the “Real” idea.

Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise. Real. Simple. Made with eggs, oil and vinegar.

The ads and PR efforts talk about the power of “real food.” Why eat a manufactured glob of chemicals when you can enjoy real food? It is a hard question not to answer on the side of real. Calories are important but so is quality and purity.

There is always opportunity at the extremes. While there is a strong trend toward dieting there is also a trend towards whole foods. Hey there is a store called Whole Foods which says no to stocking any products containing artificial sweeteners. Its mission: To offer the highest quality, least processed most flavorful and naturally preserved foods. Because food in its purest state — unadulterated by artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings and preservatives — is the best tasting and most nutritious food available.

Whatever your brand is, you have to deal with it. Pretending it isn’t high fat isn’t going to change what’s in the package. And promoting your “light” version just reinforces in the mind of consumers how “fattening” the regular version must be.

Like food, a brand is best when it is real, simple and focused. If opportunity strikes in another direction, companies should launch a new brand.

Bud Light and Diet Coke would each have been better off as new brands instead of extensions. But leaders can get away with such mistakes. And the success of the diet versions comes at a high cost to the regular varieties both in sales and strategy.

The strategy of the regular brand is sabotaged by the existence of the diet extension bearing the same name. What Budweiser needs to say is "Why drink watered down sissy beer when you can have the King of Beers?" What Coca-Cola needs to say is "Nothing beats the Real Thing."

All brands need to be real. If not, they are weak, meaningless and tasteless.

Comments

[deedeecus]

I agree that a brand extension like "Diet Coke" or "Fairy with hand balm" dilutes the original basic brand. They just make me think "So... the regular coke is not so good for me , is it? and the regular fairy is bad for my hands, huh?".

A good solution from my perspective is what PEPSI did with Pepsi MAX. It's not a nasty old diet version. It's cool and I(the consumer)'m cool for drinking it.

[Chris Pich]

I totally agree with Laura. Brands have to be kept 'REAL' in order to remain trustworthy and strong.

If a brand looses its desired image, it will hold no value or meaning in the consumers mind. A brands identity must be guarded like the crown jewels!

Over and out...

[Dileep]

Hi Laura,

I agree that a brand should be genuine by itself if it is simple and focused. In case, if we are working on a new packaging or different variation ( say, flavour in case of drinks), it is better to have a sub brand or a new brand as such.

But the "Real" if it is so real, does not need an " illustrative" to say it is quite real.. instead of adding it into the name of the product or the brand, it can also position itself so well by PR and advertising messages. I do agree that it sells if we add a word "Real" ..or at least form an impact..but that would mean that thr's something unreal too out there..which the cutomer normally wouldn't like to hear!

"Real" should not also just mean " newly improved" through any visual or written message, it is likely to offset every thing.

food if unadulterated and nutritious, can project as fresh, lively, right from the farm, like evergreen (tea leaves), farm fresh (vegetables), juicy (fruits)..

Further some companies use " real " as a tag when they have acquired the label..sometimes to differentiate against prototypes or me too products!..

so is "real" so real even if it clicks!

[Tolana]

I would have to disagree only with the last comment about Coca-Cola. Having a diet version of Coke doesn't dilute the brand, IMHO. Anyone who loves regular soda and has tried a diet knows that there is no comparison. A regular soda drinker will stick with regular unless something forces them to change. As a Dr Pepper lover, I used to drink only regular and never the diet, even though the diet "tastes most like the original" among soda brands. However, I have had to switch to diet due to the sugar in the regular. That it's called "diet" is irrelevant to me. It's Dr Pepper, without the sugar. (Perhaps a savvy marketer could come up with a better name than "diet" to represent the sugarless version.) I think the diet versions serve an entirely different audience segment than the regular version.

[Sharon Simms]

Great post. How simple, yet compelling - market the REAL.

As to diet books, or live-it books, which to me would be a better term for a new lifestyle, I liked "Did You Ever See a Fat Squirrel" which basically said that if we stick to eating real foods, we'd know when we were full.

[Sharon Simms]

Great post. How simple, yet compelling - market the REAL.

As to diet books, or live-it books, which to me would be a better term for a new lifestyle, I liked "Did You Ever See a Fat Squirrel" which basically said that if we stick to eating real foods, we'd know when we were full.

[Sharon Simms]

Great post. How simple, yet compelling - market the REAL.

As to diet books, or live-it books, which to me would be a better term for a new lifestyle, I liked "Did You Ever See a Fat Squirrel" which basically said that if we stick to eating real foods, we'd know when we were full.

[Sharon Simms]

Great post. How simple, yet compelling - market the REAL.

As to diet books, or live-it books, which to me would be a better term for a new lifestyle, I liked "Did You Ever See a Fat Squirrel" which basically said that if we stick to eating real foods, we'd know when we were full.

[Jordan Pine]

Laura:

Brilliant post. I've been reading your blog from the beginning, and this is your smartest post yet!

As a marketer and a frequent dieter myself, I've observed and participated in several diet trends. In my humble opinion, there are two ideas in the collective psyche right now that companies like Hellman’s are able to exploit.

One, it has become common wisdom that if you go back to the “state of nature” with your diet, you’ll naturally lose weight. Many diet authors have promoted this idea. (My personal favorite was a book called, “Neanderthin.”) They pose an interesting question, “Why wasn’t obesity an epidemic when people worked farms or hunted for their food?”

Two, there’s a collective sense of rebellion out there. I remember reading about a burger chain a few years back that went 180 degrees against the trend and gleefully launched a two-pound burger smothered in cheese and bacon that practically came with a defibrillator.

Wendy’s is taking a similar tack with it new “Baconator” product. The subtext: “Stop letting the food nannies force you to eat like a girlie man (and please ignore the red pigtails while I say that).” But I believe the internal dialogue goes something like, “What’s the point of going to a burger joint and eating a salad? If I’m going to do it, I’m going to DO it!”

(Incidentally, Wendy’s is also borrowing a page from your “Whole Foods” playbook with its “fresh, never frozen” campaign.)

Jordan Pine
http://scimark.blogspot.com