Strategy

Real romance or just “friends with benefits?”

This column was originally going to be about old brands connecting with younger audiences and how they do it. Not dead brands that have been dug up in the brand graveyard and dragged back to market – brands that have been active since their inception.

As we thought out our entry here, we examined old brands and found some that have done precious little to modernize over the years and are still appealing to younger audiences. All they have ever done is what they have always done.

Let’s take a look at a perennial favourite – Old Style Pilsner. This beer is like high school – just about everyone goes through it. Pil has always been just Pil, Saskatchewan champagne. The same since 1926. No rebrands, minimal packaging updates and yet it continues to connect with young audiences. The biggest pushes to date are appearing in FUBAR and sponsoring the home team – the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Eight cans for the same price as a six pack of Stella Artois.

Jiffy Mix is a product of the Chelsea Milling Company and has been on American store shelves since the 1900’s. They produce a line of 23 ready-to-go baking mixes in eight categories. And that’s it. The last two lines were only introduced in the 1990’s. Jiffy Mix has never advertised, never couponed, never paid to invite customers to trial and has somehow managed to remain in the top three in overall sales, in all categories, for most of the company’s history. Jiffy Mix packages have changed very little since the beginning. The products (which have been verified as awesome by this writer) retail between one-third and half the price of leading brands. Remember, no advertising but they do Facebook.

Everyone reading this will have used a bar of Ivory Soap more than once in their lifetime. Ivory has been around for more than 125 years and has only spun off one extension in all of that time – Ivory with Aloe. 125 years of a product that started out as a mistake.

Yes, a mistake. Back in the late 1800’s a worker left a soap machine going while he went for lunch. More air than the required amount was pumped into the soap and the worker, not wanting to own up to his error, packed and shipped the product anyway. A mistake that delighted 19th century consumers who fell in love with the “soap that floats.”

Since its early days as “The White Soap,” the Ivory Soap brand has suffered some horrendous advertising but somehow manages to sell a ton of the soap that floats. Even with that frustrating paper wrapper, people are buying. At one time, the brand owned 70% of the market but is now somewhere around 8%. Still, with so many soap brands available today, that’s pretty impressive for a brand that isn’t very active (but apparently popular with the soap carving set).

So, what secrets has December employed to be relevant to May consumers? How, in the era of the internet, solar power and Facebook have these brands been able to stay attractive to new consumers in their spaces?

Two things that a great many brands fail to exploit in the Over-Sell Age: Product and Price, the ugly siblings of Placement and Promotion in the marketing mix.

In comparing these examples, the common thread looks to be the simplicity of each. They don’t try to be anything more than they are. Pil is prairie beer, Jiffy is simple biscuit/muffin mix and Ivory is just soap. 

When you know who you are and what you do, own it.