Kenna's Dilema

Chapter five of Blink offered many insights, one of the examples I found the most interesting was the story of margarine being turned yellow to sell better. From the way the chapter describes the situation researchers had not given much thought to the small detail that, at the time, margarine was white instead of the typical yellow of butter. I thought it was strange that this had never occurred to anyone in the companies, but this example goes to show that no level of detail is too small for customer insights.

Even though the colors were different between old margarine and new margarine the taste is the same. Customers have such a connection with quality butter being a yellow color that they likely thought that something of another color was inferior. After analysis a marketing consultant was able to pinpoint the problem and the research agreed. At a dinner party people did not even notice the yellow margarine was not real butter, they even commented on how good the bread and butter tasted.

Another twist in this insight was that an aluminum wrapper made the margarine seem like a more prestigious product; I have never associated an individual metal wrapper with quality but after thought realized many champagnes have aluminum wrappers on top of the cork as well as Hershey Kisses. These two insights go to show that no level of detail can be left unturned in products and suggestions that might seem strange, if well founded, can often lead to a solution to the problem. Creativity and out of the box thinking are important in marketing but often answers are right under our noses.

Another insight I thought was interesting was the example of the role of packaging between E&J and Christian Brothers brandies. As the chapter describes, these brandies were considered lower level and their clientele were likely not concerned about taste as much as the moderate brandy consumer, but packaging between the two products was a big determinate on which brand was chosen. E&J beat Christian Brothers in blind taste tests and when it was poured from a Christian Brothers bottle, but the more smooth and exciting bottle design of Christian Brothers appealed to customers better.

The packaging of a product is likely the first thing a consumer sees when shopping and can instantly trigger recognition or the thought of a superior or inferior product. Companies go to great lengths to design packaging that appeals to customers better, but some companies seem to ignore this important factor. It is important to compare packaging within the industry to see what brand sets the standard, but it is also important to test customers on what is most appealing to them. E&J’s packaging seemed to be traditional and something management did not even see as being a problem; this mistake likely cost the company a lot over the years in lost sales and customers.

The design for this experiment seemed fairly easy and I was able to relate it to my Marketing Research and Analysis class. The X and O notation could be made out simply and I liked that the research had many controlling variables. Often complicated research methods are necessary to account for all variables, but in this example an elementary method proved to be effective enough. Often it seems research might go too deep in gaining insights when a large, underlying problem may be the cause of the problem in the first place. I think it is very interesting, though, that consumers’ tastes changed according to the bottle design and a trip through the aisles of a liquor store will show that the bottle or packaging design of a product can really make it stand out and seem superior to other products.