Honestly. I lived in Southern California for ten years and learned to love, love, love Jack.
I mean, what’s not to love? A California bad boy who promotes burgers…even middle-aged, Ohio-born women can connect with that. (Parenthetically, I own three Jack in the Box car antenna ornaments…I’m a little nervous about putting them on my actual car…but seriously, I have them right here on my desk as I type.)
Now back in Ohio, I’ve missed being in a market where Jack in the Box commercials run, but I just saw the latest Jack in the Box commercial and was inspired once again: Mini Sirloin Burgers. I’m not sure where the nearest Jack in the Box is, but I will be Googling it soon.
Talk about creating a brand identity…
First, they blew up “old school” Jack…literally, blew him up in a major ad campaign years ago–a little frightening, but awesome nonetheless. Then they created cool new Jack who makes a connection with consumers in a droll, tongue-in-cheek, witty multi-level way…a fascinating take on re-branding a heritage brand. If you haven’t seen their commercials, you owe it to yourself to visit http://www.jackinthebox.com/commercials/
But to me, the big idea is the powerful combination of new product development and great advertising-a powerful “one-two punch” that has worked for years.
- Just today, Mc Donald’s posted 4.3% same store sales increases which they attribute to their new McCafe product introduction.
- Several years ago, I flew across country next to Charlie Rath, who had just retired as Wendy’s VP of Marketing. I had the chance to pick his brain and tell him that I was a big fan of Wendy’s marketing in the 80’s when I was in grad school. While other people always wanted to ask him about the “Where’s the Beef” campaign, I was more interested in the aftermath of the campaign. His big challenge then was where to go next. The answer was new product development. They introduced a sandwich of the month program in ads touted by Dave Thomas himself that allowed new product development to fuel their growth and drive sales for years.
The formula is powerful:
NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTION X MARKETING X PR = REALLY POWERFUL BRANDS
Until next time…let me know your thoughts.
