Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

If a soup is called low fat, and it’s on-shelf next to a soup for kiddies, you’d expect it to keep its promise. Not so with these two Knorr soups. Soup on the left: for kiddies, limited edition Teddy Soup. Soup on the right: low fat. Knorr confusion I won’t bore you with the nutritional [...]

Always read the instructions I discovered this little gem from Brazil on a table top in Berlin. An MBA had returned with it after discovering its “miracle benefits” while (supposedly) over there for his studies. Everyone he met said you should take it before and after drinking and the next day you’ll have no hangover. [...]

During a short stint in Sales, I was told that Mars never price promoted products that could be stocked or “hamstered”. Not sure whether that’s true or not, especially as promotions are a good way to round off the AIDA process – they stimulate customers to act – but that can also do you damage. [...]

It’s not often a brand succeeds in outpacing others without advertising, but German cut price beer Oettinger seems to have cracked it. Source: company website screenshot P for Promotion? Nothing (unless you know otherwise…). P for Product? Nothing beyond brewing a simple Bavarian beer in a small town in a Bavarian backwater town. P for [...]

Gaining attention at the PoS (point of sale) is never easy when there are seemingly hundreds of competitors trying desperately to get noticed. Like in the very first days of marketing, at the market stall it feels you have to shout loudest to sell more. Only a certain number of suppliers gain the honour of [...]

Product managers are responsible for the whole of the marketing mix. But some parts of it are slightly beyond their grasp. Not your place. In August I saw the local lottery trying to boost sales during the summer lull with a special Mercedes SLK promotion, free to all entrants. Arranging the cooperation with the carmaker [...]

I’m used to seeing manufacturers play to current events to capture people’s interest – as they did in Germany during the 2006 World cup (click here to see what the Germans did in the supermarkets). But you don’t often see them completely redesigning the logo to capture the public’s imagination. Not unless they have such [...]

Underfoot branding. This shoe from a well known brand in Germany has been carefully designed to show the name of the brand on the sole. When you look at the shoe directly. But what if, like most people, you never see the sole? Then how can you display the brand…? Answer, with the imprint the [...]

Grabbing attention at the point of sale (PoS) can be crucial in some markets. Especially highly competitive ones, where the first place the customer encounters you is not in the media – as you’d hoped – but standing on shelf, next to all your competitors just before the purchase decision is made. In such instances, [...]

Hope in a bottle I stumbled across this product in Italy. Not a familiar sight on shelves in the UK or Germany, but apparently marketing execs in the States hope it will pull in the mums. It has a totally clear benefit: the baby will sleep. As it says on the US website, “There’s nothing [...]