For familiarity’s sake?
This question seems to keep popping up everywhere we go in our daily lives. Is it out of fear? uncertainty? or just plain old laziness? We hear it every day just phrased differently: Stick to what you know or it’s part of my daily routine.
From my point of view it should be taken depending on its context. for example, if its taken from a business perspective, there may be a deadline you are trying to meet or a certain event that you need to plan that sometimes means sticking with the same supplier or vendor, even though you know it will be a complete headache, this compromise guarantees that you will be able to deliver on what’s expected of you given the short amount of time. When it is applied to the dating world, sometimes a familiar restaurant may give you a certain edge with the outcome of the date. Imagine trying out a new restaurant and everything that you order tastes horribly!
— used to say that it is better to deal with a difficult person or situation one knows than with a new person or situation that could be worse.
But as with many things in life, sometimes what we need is to break free from the chains of routines and familiarities in order to achieve personal growth and experience new and exciting things. We live our lives in such a hectic rush that we don’t stop often enough to smell the flowers, take risks or try new things.
I swear everything I just said has a purpose. When applied to marketing, does sticking with the same familiar brand always turn out great? If you are talking about Apple or Ralph Lauren that is probably the case. But if a famous beer brand comes out with an entirely different product, should familiarity become enough of a factor to encourage a purchase decision?
Today’s new drink trend has become Hard Seltzers, and they are extremely popular in the marketplace especially because of their low calories and carbs, smooth taste and relatively low price. Most popular beer brands have understood the popular trend and now manufacture this type of product with or without associating their name. According to Cowen and Company: “hard seltzers’ share of the combined beer, flavored malt beverages, and cider has grown to around 10% from 0% in 2017. Hard seltzer has grown to 5% of total alcoholic beverage sales since 2017, while beer has fallen to 55% from 62%.”
In my opinion one name stands out, Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer, why? because not only did they associate their popular beer brand name to the product, but they went one step further and introduced the word “organic” into the mix as well. A marketing home run for today’s society.
With too many features and benefits to name, I found it fitting to do a pros and cons list about the product:
Pros:
- Zero sugar, zero carbs and only 80 calories!
- Familiar brand name.
- USDA Organic.
- Several flavors.
- Great image.
- Renowned parent company (AB InBev).
- National distribution.
- Deep pocket marketing budget.
Cons:
- Associated with a beer brand.
- The name doesn’t tell you anything about the product.
- Mainstream.
- Industrialized product (low quality).
On top of that, Michelob ULTRA made a splash in this year’s Super Bowl with a pair of commercials that cost the company $12 million+ and included a star studded cast made up of celebrities and sports athletes (Steve Buscemi, Brooks Koepka, Peyton Manning, Jimmy Butler, Alex Morgan, Nneka Ogwumike and Serena Williams) in a remake of the 90’s hit movie: The Big Lebowski.
I would like to leave you with the final stanza of one of my favorite poems, which I found to be extremely fitting to this conversation:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
