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What do they expect?

March 4th, 2009 in Marketing by


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I bought a big 250g bag of M&Ms, as I often do, to share with the people in my office … but I didn’t get what I paid for.

I expected M&Ms, the normal mixture, but I ended up with a bag of orange chocolates, the last colour I’d choose. To quote from the packet, “M&Ms are now sold as separate colours”. 

  • I was expecting a mix of colours: they didn’t deliver.
  • Without even telling me, they changed the rules: their advertising failed me or they didn’t do any.
  • Nowhere on the bag did they even say what colour I was getting.

I know this is trivial! What people have grown to understand to be your uniqueness gives you huge leverage. And it’s free.

IMHO A bag of orange chocolates is boring. I was paying for an expectation. And so are your clients.

Cheers, Nigel

PS Remember New Coke? – Ian

 

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    • http://www.stephenbaugh.com/blog/ Stephen

      Orange chocolates … that place in my mind is owned by Jafa’s … you poor guy.

    • http://www.stephenbaugh.com/blog/ Stephen

      Orange chocolates … that place in my mind is owned by Jafa’s … you poor guy.

    • http://www.nicolainglisphotography.co.nz Nicola

      Funny, I just thought it was very clever marketing…get people fired up, emotionally involved with the product, talking (and blogging) about it.

      I thought the long term lesson of new coke was that it ultimately strengthened the brand by forcing people to define their loyalty.

      Not sure how this applies to photographers and their favourite album makers but I loved my bag of red M&Ms!

    • http://www.nicolainglisphotography.co.nz Nicola

      Funny, I just thought it was very clever marketing…get people fired up, emotionally involved with the product, talking (and blogging) about it.

      I thought the long term lesson of new coke was that it ultimately strengthened the brand by forcing people to define their loyalty.

      Not sure how this applies to photographers and their favourite album makers but I loved my bag of red M&Ms!

    • http://www.photojunction.com Danny Bay

      Imagine if the following urban legend has any truth ;-)

      http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/mandms.asp

    • http://www.photojunction.com Danny Bay

      Imagine if the following urban legend has any truth ;-)

      http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/mandms.asp

    • http://www.queensberry.com/ Ian

      Hey Nicola, thanks for commenting. Heather reckoned this morning that New Coke was a conspiracy, as you say. Although maybe you just mean the result, not the uber-marketing conspiracy thing.

      And Adrienne said, “Hasn’t Nigel seen the advertising campaign?” Well, maybe not! You can’t assume that any more. I know we record everything we watch on TV and almost NEVER see an ad. And a lot of (mainly young) people would rather watch Youtube. I have more video podcasts on my computer than I could possibly watch.

      And maybe the result will be good for M&M.; Meantime Nigel has a big bag he doesn’t want. There’s no right or wrong here, we’re just delighted to spark a debate. And offer food for thought about messing with what your clients expect of you.

      Cheers, Ian

      Ha! Check out Danny’s link, Nigel, and stop complaining. The orange ones are good luck.

    • http://www.queensberry.com/ Ian

      Hey Nicola, thanks for commenting. Heather reckoned this morning that New Coke was a conspiracy, as you say. Although maybe you just mean the result, not the uber-marketing conspiracy thing.

      And Adrienne said, “Hasn’t Nigel seen the advertising campaign?” Well, maybe not! You can’t assume that any more. I know we record everything we watch on TV and almost NEVER see an ad. And a lot of (mainly young) people would rather watch Youtube. I have more video podcasts on my computer than I could possibly watch.

      And maybe the result will be good for M&M. Meantime Nigel has a big bag he doesn’t want. There’s no right or wrong here, we’re just delighted to spark a debate. And offer food for thought about messing with what your clients expect of you.

      Cheers, Ian

      Ha! Check out Danny’s link, Nigel, and stop complaining. The orange ones are good luck.

    • Nigel

      Appreciate the sympathy Stephen ;) But an interesting thought…had I had a choice, I’d have picked Blue and probably not complained.

      Maybe that’s all I was after with out even realising it – the choice.

      Nicola I agree, in many ways it is a clever marketing campaign, just look at the conversation going on here. And I can forgive them for ‘not telling me’ because numbers of people have come to me and said exactly what Adrienne said…I just mustn’t have been plugged in hard enough (I don’t watch much tv). But here’s the thing…

      They’re still not telling me what to expect when I buy a bag of M&Ms.;

      Surely, if we (or your/our clients) are putting down money down for a product, we’d like to know what we’ll be getting?

      Just give me a choice and I’ll be happy ;)

    • Nigel

      Appreciate the sympathy Stephen ;) But an interesting thought…had I had a choice, I’d have picked Blue and probably not complained.

      Maybe that’s all I was after with out even realising it – the choice.

      Nicola I agree, in many ways it is a clever marketing campaign, just look at the conversation going on here. And I can forgive them for ‘not telling me’ because numbers of people have come to me and said exactly what Adrienne said…I just mustn’t have been plugged in hard enough (I don’t watch much tv). But here’s the thing…

      They’re still not telling me what to expect when I buy a bag of M&Ms.

      Surely, if we (or your/our clients) are putting down money down for a product, we’d like to know what we’ll be getting?

      Just give me a choice and I’ll be happy ;)


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