Is it time for a Tune - Up ?

Ocean Spray Should dump Wellfleet Farms

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Editorial Commentary by Hal Brown
Feb., 1999

Preemptory response to those who think I'm betraying the Coop:

If you take what I'm about to write seriously enough to tell me not to give an edge to the competition, what can I say? I'm flattered. Nobody pays me six figures to figure out marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. In fact, even if I was some sort of advertising genius, the Ocean Spray "no nepotism" policy would forbid them from hiring me.

Why Wellfleet Farms was a bad idea

Ocean Spray's target purchaser, middle aged, middle class women, have known and trusted the brand since they were children. They are not the sort of people to respond in significant numbers to the negative advertising about Ocean Spray juices not being "pure fruit". They never were. They never will be. They will buy Ocean Spray as long as it isn't too much more expensive than the store brands or Northland. Each consumer, unless they are Ocean Spray growers themselves, has a threshold price differential of their own which will prove irresistible.

Ocean Spray introduced Wellfleet Farms to counter, and compete against, the so-call pure juice brands and their negative advertising. Instead, they ended up competing against themselves. Wellfleet Farms sold well enough, but I suspect that those who bought it had previously been loyal Ocean Spray customers. I hope that Ocean Spray market researchers know whether this is indeed true.

If they don't they should. In fact, they should have done their homework and never introduced Wellfleet Farms in the first place.

In Hindsight, a Better Idea

Instead of spending millions to develop, advertise and market a new product, it seems to me for a lot less money Ocean Spray could have improved it's own advertising to their core market. I believe they are a victim of needless insecurity about customer loyalty. I believe they over-reacted to the negative advertising of Northland.

The typical loyal Ocean Spray consumer has trusted the brand for decades. They trust the juice products to be wholesome and nutritious. They know Ocean Spray to be the innovator of blended fruit juices. Most consumers are turned off by negative ads, especially when leveled against a company with one of the best images in the supermarket. (Hey, we don't own any tobacco companies!) Most respond to positive ads.

What to do Now?

I'm not an advertising executive. I don't even play one on T.V. My advice probably isn't worth the cyperspace it occupies.

Ocean Spray was, and if it survives, will always be built on cranberries. Fortunately this little red berry and the way it is grown and harvested lends itself to incredibly beautiful advertising. There's not much difference between an apple grower and a cranberry grower. But everything Thanksgiving, what fruit harvest dominates the news magazines on television?

I may be biased, though I have talked to many friends, as well as growers, who agree with me that the best Ocean Spray ads are those that feature visuals of the harvest and actually growers knee deep in the glorious red harvest. Ocean Spray has barely scratched the surface of how beautiful cranberry farming is. I have yet to see ads showing how the bogs look early on a frost morning with the red sun reflected in the ice on the vines. I haven't seen ads showing how beautiful a bog looks misted over with patches of fog. I haven't seen ads showing how pretty a bog looks when the sprinklers are running. Frankly, I wonder if the advertising executives have seen any of this!

I think we should pull Wellfleet Farms off the market and close down production. Then we should increase advertising with a focus as described here. We should ignore all negative advertising from the so-called pure juice brands.

But, then, what do I know?

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