Occasion-based marketing at its best?
As the cost of living crisis takes hold, many consumers are feeling the incredible pinch. 🤌
Weetabix have come out in “support” with their latest instalment of their ongoing campaign ‘Any which way a Bix’, which kicks off on the 3rd January.
In a bid to move their cereal “beyond breakfast” and highlight that it can be consumed throughout the day, in a bid to save cash. 💰
Now is this a good idea? Let’s take a look.
Classic Occasion Based Marketing
On the one hand, it’s classic occasion based marketing. If you can increase the number of occasions your customers associate with your product, your onto a winner.🥇
It can drive new customer acquisition (as people substitute existing meals for Bix), whilst also increasing existing consumption. 😮
Smart play and this tactic is no stranger to the cereal category, as brands like Kellogg’s Special K did something similar years ago.
Purpose or profit?
Weetabix is one of the most trusted brands in the UK. However, you can’t help but wonder whether it’s in pursuit of being “purposeful” or just a way to drive their own top line.
More importantly what will a consumer think? I say any move that leaves someone wondering can’t do much for confidence and trust. 🤔
Health is wealth
It claims that a large box 📦 of Weetabix can feed a family for four for nine days and boasts of the health benefits of doing so. 🤔
Weetabix would no doubt be fast to assert the health benefits of increased Bix consumption. To be fair, it’s actually pretty healthy with a good dose of fibre and other good ingredients. No doubt it’s one of the healthiest cereals on the market. ✅
But since a cereal is meant to be one meal a day, will any cereal for that matter give you all the nutrition you need to make it a viable substitute for multiple meals a day for a sustained period? 🤔
(Those that say it’s not meant for a sustained period – two points of note: 1. The campaign is around helping people during the cost of living crisis and therefore to be of any financial benefit it must be for a sustained period of time. 2. The fact that they suggest the whole family will take 9 days says a lot).
Seems rather ambitious to me.
Cost of living marketing
Andrew Tenzer, in a recent Marketing Week article laid down the case for brands to stay away from using the cost of living crisis as a topic to use within marketing.
His research, alongside Ian Murray, demonstrates that this type of marketing, what they call ‘straight-line thinking’ leads to rather bland creative that lacks distinctiveness. 😐
Their logic in Marketing Week goes like this:
“The cost of living is the number one concern for the majority of the population, people want brands to help and this must mean that focusing on the cost of living will be an effective communications strategy.”
So back to my early point, does this type of marketing reinforce or retract from the brand positioning and trust a consumer has?
