But that’s a tough communication job, especially in the dairy fixture which is such a hostile shopper environment (where else would the product be put in a cage in freezing temperatures – it’s no wonder the dwell time is something like 3 seconds!).
Wouldn’t it have been better to fish where the fish are?
If we are offering a tasty alternative to cooking oils, then why not put our product in the area of the store where shoppers are in that mindset already. The oils fixture. A brand the size of Lurpak would disrupt that fixture, add value to that category and (in my opinion) will be bought more often simply because shoppers are in the “stuff to fry my onions in” mind set.
In hindsight we should have pushed harder to get an introduction to the oil buyers to get the product ranged there. That may have needed some product or pack development to allow both dairy and oil buyers to have the product and track their own sales, but we should have found a way to make it happen and to overcome the objections.
That’s something that’s stuck with me ever since. As marketers we are too close to our products and campaigns. We often expect too much from our shoppers – they're busy people, they haven’t been involved in the 6 months of product development that you have, and they simply don’t care about your product.
In this example, they simply aren’t searching the store for a better alternative to olive oil. Especially not in the dairy aisle.
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