brand marketing blog

It amazes me that after the debacle of Cadbury reducing the size of their Dairy Milk slabs and the ensuing consumer outcry in social media circles, that Tip Top can consider pulling a similar stunt.

In brief, Tip Top has reduced the size of the tubs of certain flavours down to 1.6litre from 2litre. Tip Top marketing manager Trish Whitwell confirmed that the move was primarily driven by shrinking margins, but substantiated it by citing consumer research supported the move. She says that reducing the tub size is more palatable (excuse the pun) than increasing the price.

Just talking to a few friends and colleagues, and drawing on my own experience as a consumer of tub ice cream, I doubt many people actually have any idea of what the ‘correct price’ should be, partly due to supermarket chains running their in-house promotional campaigns from time to time.

A price increase would hardly even be noticed in the grand scheme of unique pricing strategies within the supermarket chains, particularly with geo-based pricing per store. After all, it's happening every day across many other brands. But a 20% reduction in packaging size is so obvious. And to launch it in summer when ice cream is so top-of-mind! Surely a mid winter change would have gone virtually unnoticed.

This strategy has been used successfully in the past, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work today. In the pre-social media era, consumers had no effective channels to voice their opinion about a brand, but social media presents a powerful new voice for the consumer to influence brands, positively or negatively.

Interestingly, Tip Top say they have received very few questions (less than 10) from members of the public about the changes to the range. Pity they didn’t take note of the 130+, mostly negative comments to the press article.

Haagen-Daaz did a similar packaging re-size exercise in the USA and the iconic Ben & Jerry’s brand had a field day with it, just like Whittaker's did with Cadbury.

I just wonder when these big brands will realise that they are only big brands because we made them big by buying their products (probably because we liked the product). Consumers made them, they can break them...vote with your wallets folks. I suspect that this won't be the last stunt that we see like this. Some will slip beneath the radar because they are not household brands, but the big 'n famous consumer brands will get found out, for sure.

Related links:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/3101288/Smaller-icecream-tubs-not-so-topping
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/3099610/Tip-Top-downsizes-ice-cream-containers
http://www.boldhorizon.co.nz/brand-marketing-blog/index.php/new-media-pummels-cadbury
http://www.boldhorizon.co.nz/brand-marketing-blog/index.php/cadbury-whittakers-social-media
http://www.boldhorizon.co.nz/brand-marketing-blog/index.php/cadbury-hits-back-at-whittakers-in-the-h
http://www.boldhorizon.co.nz/brand-marketing-blog/index.php/whittakers-hammers-cadbury-in-comparativ

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