Marketing Juice
I bought a Spring Valley juice at university the other week. Apple and blackcurrant, on a whim – not my usual drink of choice, but it satisfied.
I wasn’t too impressed by the copy on the side of the bottle, though:
After just one sip of this heaven-sent, preservative-free juice, that halo perched precariously above your head will flicker back to life like a broken neon sign. This of course signals the start of repentance for the pain you’ve put your body through over the weekend.
This is stupid, because they’ve defined their target market as young people who get hammered every weekend and only drink juice as a hangover cure. Alcohol-inflicted injury is what I’m lead to believe the ‘pain’ refers to.
This is their marketing ploy. No preservatives. No added sugar. Drink this when you’ve been a dumbshit binge drinker over the weekend.
Not the best assumption to make about your target market, right? The ‘liddle facts‘ under the lid are cute, but they don’t gel with the message on the side of the bottle. And they list an impersonal web address.
Contrast this against the copy on the side of a Boost Juice cup. Verbatim:
So, now you’ve got your Boost. Tell us:
Does it taste amazing?
Did our boosties make it for you in a flash?
Did they make you feel good for coming to Boost today?
Please let us know if we reached our usual giddy heights of brilliance today. We love hearing from you, the great stuff as well as what we can do better!love life
(Janine Allis‘ signature)
I like this a lot. The tense switches are appropriate. She calls the workers – often young females – boosties, which I’d guess would make them like their job a little more. Like Subway‘s sandwich artists – or maybe not. Maybe they take the piss out of it and hate their jobs. But the ‘boosties’ I witness usually seem pretty happy.
The copy isn’t overwhelmingly, desperately happy. Just positive overall. And aside from the awesome-tasting juice, the service is one of the reasons I return to Boost. Their assembly line system is tight, even when they’re busy and the queue is dozens deep. Everyone knows what they’re doing, and their work is on display, all the time. Their training regime must kick arse.
And the inclusion of Janine’s address at the end is another nice personal touch. Sure, she’d most likely have assistances reading for her, but I get the distinct impression that I’d receive a reply if I were to email that address. I’ll try it out, and I’ll include a link to this article.
Two different marketing strategies for two different brands targeting two slightly different segments of the juice market. One assumes poor past personal behaviour on their customers’ part; as a result, their tone comes off as haughty, and vaguely offensive. The other makes their loyal customers smile, and extends the opportunity to open a dialogue between producer and consumer.
Which of these is sustainable?
Dear Andrew,
Long time reader, first time writer.
In regards to this beautifully well scripted rant,I found that it has fulfilled my requirements in regards to where us consumers stand in a Juice filled world.
Your stance and opinion for what each company stated in above blog, seems to be at the same level as mine.
For this, I commend you.
Sincerely, Ash.
ps you are still the most awesome guy i know. hands down. kthnxbye
“After just one sip of this heaven-sent, preservative-free juice, that halo perched precariously above your head will flicker back to life like a broken neon sign. This of course signals the start of repentance for the pain you’ve put your body through over the weekend.”
When I read this, the first thing that came to mind was the spiel you find on the side of every bottle of nutrient/vitamin water, none of which are highly coherent, but all very tongue-in-cheek. Many of the bottles bear reference to ‘a big night out’, and nutrient water even instructs consumers to “apply liberally for fast effective relief from other beverages.”
Maybe marketing to binge drinking culture does pay off?
I think I’ve read that before, and yeah, I was taken aback. I’m pretty sure I saw another drink recently, like a Big M or something, whose flavour was quite literally “Hangover Cure”, or something like that. Wish I could remember what it was. Milk of some sort no doubt.
i guess when you consider the depth and breadth of a market based around deadshits you can see why companies might direct their efforts that way.