You Can't Change What People Believe About Your Brand

A few months ago, I was talking to a very astute person who said, “you can’t change what people believe about your brand, you can only reframe your brand to be more relevant.” This really resonated with me because of two brands I worked on in my own career: Oreo Cookies and Twizzlers.  

I worked on the Oreo brand early in my career. We were having a rough year. The challenge was to right the ship and get back on a growth trajectory. 

While we were doing consumer research, we learned two very important facts. 

The first was that moms saw Oreo cookies as junk food, which they were trying to keep out of the house. Unfortunately, Oreo cookies are junk food … delicious, but still junk food. There was no changing that. 

But another insight emerged. The moms in the focus groups kept mentioning the fact that they loved that their kids drank milk with Oreos. 

And there, right in front us was the reframe we needed. Oreo has a long history of connection with milk, there’s even a jingle about it: “ice cold milk and an Oreo cookie. They forever go together…” So, “Oreo helps get your kids to drink milk,” was a credible reframing rooted in something people already believed about the brand. 

The “Milk’s favorite cookie” campaign was born. The jingle was revived. Milk splashes were added on to the packaging … and the brand turned around. 

Fast forward a few years. I was working on the Twizzlers brand. The brand was doing well, but the mandate was to grow faster. We needed to drive frequency. 

As with the Oreo example, the team set out to find a way to reframe the brand. Once again, the insights were right in front of us. 

Consumers thought of Twizzlers for two specific occasions: movie theater candy - partly because they are quiet to eat - and summer road trip candy - because they don’t melt in the car. 

We decided we would focus on these occasions. In particular, we felt there was growth in the movie candy occasion. If consumers liked eating Twizzlers in the theater, couldn’t we get them to eat Twizzlers when watching movies on TV at home? 

The Twizzlerize campaign came from this insight, starting with this ad that depicted the Empire State Building scene from King Kong made entirely of Twizzlers, with the line “From silver screens to flat screens, Twizzlerize your entertainment everyday…” The campaign went on to include a variety of classic TV and movie references. Most importantly, the brand grew … a lot. 

What was great about this campaign was that it hit on all cylinders: appetite appeal from lots of product, strong brand cues, a clear occasion based strategy and delivery of the “playful fun” brand essence of Twizzlers. 

From those two experiences, I have taken these lessons: 

1. You can’t change what people already believe about your brand 
2. The key to growth is figuring out a historical belief that consumers have about the brand that is relevant to today’s challenges, problems and lifestyles
3. Reframing the brand story around an idea that ties an existing belief with a current, relevant need gets consumers to reconsider the brand 

Finding such insights, even on an older brand, can rekindle growth and drive frequency.  

If you are interested in talking more about how to reframe your brand to better resonate with consumers, visit www.proprioceptive.io or shoot me a note at jeff.sigel@proprioceptive.io.