Ad Age is running a survey regarding ways in which Kraft can prop its flagging brands. Apparently analysts expect that these brands will somehow become relevant and sell more if Kraft spends additional ad funds.
Certainly brands that are not top-of-mind and command little preference are bound not to perform very well, but "brands" must be affixed to real products and if consumers find little utility in the products, no amount of brand advertisement will increase sales to an acceptable level. Here's an alternative to advertising: focus on product development and positioning through:
- extension of use - My first bet would be for Kraft to find out how these products are used, and devise alternative, low risk applications that may make them more desirable (for instance like using canned onion soup as a culinary ingredient in addition to its intended consumption - as soup) or that carve up a new niche
- elimination of non-competitive items - no use getting into Pareto discussions here: if an item faces significant competition, is not a category leader and performs more as a result of financial incentives and discounts than anything else, it is probably time to eliminate it
- re-packaging - some packaging goes staler than the product it contains, some of it is undying, it is often cheaper to re-launch in a new package than to re-formulate a "new and improved" product
- new products development - this is a broad and not too cheap suggestion but may be the last resort, if products have become irrelevant or commodified, then it is perhaps time to introduce new ones or carve out new categories.
Kraft may become a great example of how Marketing can miss the mark by focusing on advertisement rather than on product management and on customers.
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