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A New Commentary Each Wednesday          Feb 19, 2014


The diminishing importance of a well known brand name

   I was shocked to learn some time ago that Salsa,* a generic word in Spanish, not even a brand name, has replaced Heinz catsup as the Favorite American Condiment.

   It all began with reading an article that insisted that due to the growing importance of the Internet in guiding people's decisions when they are planning to purchase something, 80 percent of all American consumers look at online reviews. They are less influenced by both subliminal messages and pure advertising flack.

    We are less inclined to be impressed by the doctor from Central Casting, the one in the long white coat and a stethoscope around his neck. The one who sits on the edge of his desk, removes his glasses and by mere illusion, attempts to lead us to believe that "Doctors prefer X brand of something or other."

   Incredibly, when I was a kid, real physicians told us that one brand of cigarettes was "smoother," and another insisted a competitive brand of "coffin nails" (Yes, that was a common saying 60 years ago) "had less tar and nicotine."

   This led me to remember three patent medicines of my callow youth that haven't been around for years, but all were advertised extensively and were found in most medicine cabinets of that age: Dr. Miles Nervine, Dr. Drakes Cough Syrup and Senator Dudley LeBlanc's Hadacol. I believe that all three shared one important palliative: alcohol.

   Conclusion: We are making better choices now due to the World Wide Web. Yes, produce an excellent product such as the Ford F-Series truck and 34-million people will continue to buy it. Do a dud, like the Edsel and it will become known as the Titanic Ford Failure, now a rare collectors' item.

   This little of bit of research caused to me to google "Advertising Failures of the Past Decade." Just having a well respected brand name is not enough, such as the Smith and Wesson Mountain Bike. Shoot, I don't what it was that blew away their target market.

   Remember when Coors, the Colorado Beer Company came out with bottled water, meant to compete with Perrier, Avian and Arrowhead? The main thrust of Coor's adverting says that their beer is "made with Clear Colorado Mountain Spring Water." That phrase was so well established in people's minds that the Coors advertising braintrust thought that they should title their bottled water "Clear Colorado Mountain Spring Water," and that's exactly what the label stated.  Absolute truth in advertising. After trying it however, critics said that the product lacked one ingredient: alcohol...and sales evaporated.

   Other products that were soon jerked off the shelf by their Big Name Makers include "Lifesavers Soda" (it fizzled), The Apple Newton, a big clunky, slow, expensive ($700), handheld computer that crashed and burned when it fell off the tree in 1998. 

   Some of the other more amusing marketing bombs were "Harley-Davidson" perfume and aftershave lotion. (Do I really have to explain why?), Ben-Gay Aspirin (?) and Bic disposable underwear. For some reason, people couldn't connect a fountain pen or a cigarette lighter with undies (I can hear some genius product manager trying to explain to the Big Brass at Bic that the public would love anything that is disposable).  Other companies have since been less incontinent in designing and advertising the need for adult diapers.

   My unfavorite failure has to be Clairol's "Touch of Yogurt," shampoo. No one, zip, nada, could imagine rubbing yogurt into their scalp. Worse, a few people tried to eat it and it made them sick.

-Phil Richardson, Storyteller and Observer of the Human Condition.

*Salsa is also Spanish for "gravy."



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