'Crave' Too Much? Try the 'Patch'

White Castle Introduces New TV Spot and Patch Promotion

8/6/99 COLUMBUS, Ohio, PRNewswire/ -- A humorous new TV commercial from Columbus-based White Castle plays off the long-standing ``What You Crave'' advertising campaign. The spot, produced earlier this year as part of a series of system-wide promotions, will break this weekend in most White Castle markets. Continued

Annals of Fantasy Litigation:

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water again...

8/6/99 The world's largest cranberry cooperative has again filed a complaint in Federal District court. They are alleging violation of the Lanham act in a complaint against White Castle for infringing on the well known Ocean Spray slogan "Crave the Wave." An Ocean Spray spokesman said "we've owned the rights to "crave" for years, the public associates ' crave '  with ' the wave ', which we also own. Officials from White Castle were unavailable for comment.

Related quote from Jim Mullin's "Hot Sheet" in Entertainment Weekly (8/6/99) about this summer's heavily promoted genetically-altered-shark movie: "A team of scientists make evil, man-eating sharks even more dangerous. They send them to law school"

Unilever Resumes Top-line Growth in Second Quarter -- Operating Profit Grows 18%, Sales Improve 3%

NEW YORK--8/6/99 - Company Press release --Unilever resumed its top-line growth in the second quarter 1999, with sales improving three percent over last year. Operating profit before exceptional items grew 18 percent to 1,249 million dollars, reflecting an improvement in overall margin from 9.3 percent to 10.5 percent. Net profit for the quarter before exceptional items was 809 million dollars, an 11 percent increase; after exceptional items it rose three percent. Continued

Twenty-five directors, bankers and Bain: the fate of Ocean Spray is in their hands
Hal Brown

8/2/99 Over the next few weeks, the Ocean Spray directors will put preconceived notions aside. They will ignore the cheerleading coming from their in-house pronouncements and pep rallies. They will listen to unbiased experts from Bain, one of the top three strategic management consulting firms in the United States. They will hear what investment bankers who have presided over multi-billion dollar transitions and transactions have to say about the value of Ocean Spray.  They will fully explore the pros and cons of taking all or part of the cooperative public with those who could care less about purely emotional loyalty to the coop that made CRAN a household name. They will meet in in secrecy with representatives of large corporations that are exploring the acquisition of Ocean Spray.

Each member of the Board will engage in private soul searching and will courageously  analyze their beliefs about what is best for Ocean Spray. If Ocean Spray changes, their roles will change, and they may either need to be more involved in understanding and authorizing the long term strategy of Ocean Spray, or less involved, or not involved at all. For some, the later two possibilities will come as a loss, for others, as a relief.

They will anaesthetize what continues to be a knee-jerk reaction from Ocean Spray management to blame the crisis in cranberries on competition from other handlers and purveyors of cranberry products. They will admit that far too much money has been wasted on efforts to win back the loyalty of "Sally the savvy 21st century American consumer" as she reaches for a cranberry juice that isn't Ocean Spray.

They will read the dire predictions of the Cranberry Marketing Committee and a light will go on -  the downslide won't be reversed by Ocean Spray winning back market share from Northland et al.  The cranberry industry will only be saved by assuring that demand - and this means worldwide - always is running apace with, or ahead of supply.

Twenty-five farmers will either decide the fate of the entire cranberry industry in the next week or two, or if they cling to old ways of thinking, abdicate this role and leave a void in strategic industry leadership. If this happens, they will set the industry back many years, and be responsible for the demise of Ocean Spray as industry leader. We will see the ascendancy of companies like Decas Brothers, Northland, Clement Pappas and Cliffstar, which will divvy up the spoils and share the market more or less equally with Ocean Spray.

Ocean Spray for Y2K

New Year's Resolutions
8/5/99

Through continued advertising, publicity and aggressive sales promotion, to build an ever-widening market for cranberry crops.

To work for prices which will be reasonable to consumers and will bring fair returns to cranberry growers.

To do all in our power to bring greater cooperation within the cranberry industry, because only through a strong cooperative can growers be assured of sound marketing and stable prices.

To be ever mindful that we are the servants of the cranberry grower, and that our every act is dedicated to achieving greater security and prosperity for our members.

Source: Cranberry Cooperative News, Published by the National Cranberry Association, Hanson, Mass., Vol. X, No. 1, January, 1949.

U.S. Farms with Internet Access More Than Doubles: New Jersey leads nation

8/8/99 The Ocean Spray lawsuit against Sunsweet, despite my satirical take on it (see below) is no laughing matter. The suit was discussed in an opinion column, and the complaint reproduced in its entirety, in Cranberry Stressline on 7/29/99, before the story gained national attention ( Who Owns Words):

Regulating unfair competition is important. Litigation is often the only recourse a company has, and it is frequently justified. Courts now are being asked to make what should be common sense decisions about the ownership of trademarks and trade dress, and most interestingly, of actual words.

Now Ocean Spray has revealed to the mainstream press that the Sunsweet Cranlings are dried sweetened cranberries manufactured by Decas Cranberries. As everyone in the cranberry industry knows, one way to exacerbate the knee-jerk paranoid turf protective response with Ocean Spray managers is to mention that one of the "two Johns" (John Decas, or John Swendrowksi of Northland Cranberries) may be threatening to shave a percentage point or two off of Ocean Spray's market share. If these reactions did not cost the Ocean Spray grower owners money and prove detrimental to the entire cranberry industry, perhaps they could be overlooked. However, the history of such over-zealous brand protection is one of costly and dismal failure.

Cranberry Stressline has been "accused" of speculation. But there is a time when the facts seem to suggest certain explanations. The revelation that Cranlings are manufactured by Decas suggests the possibility that once again the now discredited and on the way out, but still apparently entrenched, management of Ocean is calling the shots and making ill advised decisions.

Do they know something we don't know? Is it possible they've commissioned taste tests comparing Craisins and Cranlings and discovered a consumer preference for the new Sunsweet/Decas product? If that is the case, the way to compete in a free marketplace isn't through questionable law suits, but by bringing out a "new improved Craisins - plumper, moister, sweeter" (or whatever). The Cranberry Stressline editorial position is simple: do what's right for all cranberry growers and everyone who makes their living in the cranberry industry and do it in an open and fair manner.

8/7/99 - Standard-Times reports the Cranlings story | AP story about Ocean Spray Craisins vs Sunsweet Cranlings

Eliminating the Emotional
by Randy Jonjak, Wisconsin

8/6/99  -  I see that postings have trickled down to a pre-crisis pace. What submissions there are come from the same very few individuals. I got tired of seeing my own name on these two web sites, and stopped contributing. But I see the prevailing wisdom of those still posting is that anyone wanting to preserve the co-op structure (like me) is being emotional. Rather than let my silence appear to be a surrender, I am preparing this submission.

Frantic is a word two posters have used to describe their current emotions. The word I would use for myself is resigned. Resigned to the fact that our small farms could very well be out of business as soon as next year. While I haven't been able to come up with what my plan B career will be if I quit farming, I already know that I'm not in love with this way of life enough to continue to raise cranberries under that same profit structure that dairy farmers here in Wisconsin have labored under for so long.

I presume the reason two of you feel a hero on a white horse can no longer save us is that our debt level is so high. I still think a new CEO could make a hell of a difference, if we get the right person. But right now, our future is supposedly being charted by a few individuals on a white horse, in the form of our consultants. My current state of being braced for the worst comes from my recent realization that I was hoping for too much from our consulting group. These are just people after all, and no amount of their own hype about what gurus they are can change that. The Anderson consulting group proved how human gurus can be by talking us in to closing down too many bottling lines. Result? We have a surplus in the freezer and can't bring it to market. Isn't it shocking how much money a strong CEO could have saved us by being able to make good decisions on his own instead of being forced to rely on expensive consulting firms to give us bad answers? I am also resigned to the fact that when the consulting firm makes their rounds, they will identify with management as "their kind of people" (MBA's). They will mistrust the directors (farmers masquerading as business men, from the consultant's perspective). And if they talk to a grower, they will pat him on the head and say "Isn't he cute?" Click here - continued