Slow-grown success

By Keith Syron

Friday 1st November 2002

Mother Earth and V share a lot of common features: both are home-grown New Zealand brands, both are very successful in their niches and both have successfully developed their brands in Australia and beyond. But what's the difference between them? Sure, one is a drink brand and the other is a food brand, but what's the other big distinction?

It's advertising. Frucor's V was built primarily through advertising while Mother Earth's brand was built without it - interesting, considering many marketers believe advertising is essential for building a successful brand from scratch.

There are several successful New Zealand brands that have grown without advertising (although they are the exception rather than the rule): Hubbards, Good Taste Company, Lisa's Hummus, Hire-a-Hubby and Naked Bar.

These brands have all been slow-grown successes. The Mother Earth brand name was recently sold to Cadbury for a rumoured $20 million. Good Taste Company was sold to Wattie's for millions in the 1990s. Hubbards now has sales of $15 million and accounts for 10% of all cereals sold in the country.

So what are the rules for building a non-advertised brand?

Pick a great name. Mother Earth, Good Taste Company and Naked Bar are all names with inherent meaning to the consumer. They instantly conjure an image in the consumer's mind, without needing the support of advertising. Few brands have this advantage - witness SPC (canned fruit) and McCain (assorted foods) - and need advertising to create an appropriate image.

Make a unique product. To some extent it is true that if you make a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Consumers are always intrigued by difference - they want to trial new ideas. Mother Earth's products have always been distinct and appealing in critical ways. The Good Taste Company engineered the introduction of supermarket-ready fresh pasta and pasta sauces. Naked Bar is a new concept in snack bars.

Design your packaging to stand out on the shelf. Mother Earth is an expert at this. Instead of using the traditional warm, natural colours for "wholesome" food brands, Mother Earth uses bright greens, reds and blues to ensure its range stands out from the designs used by Uncle Tobys and other snack bar brands. Likewise Hubbards' brush-stroked, colourful packs are designed to stand out against the traditional designs used by Sanitarium and Kellogg's.

Get talked about in the media. Hubbards is a master at this, becoming a high-interest news item for Dick Hubbard's stand on social responsibility and his mission to take on Sanitarium and Kellogg's.

Get powerful retail distribution. This requires a point of difference and the promise that your new brand will develop the category. Mother Earth, Good Taste Company and Hubbards have all offered these benefits to the supermarkets.

Is there a downside to not advertising? You need to be patient. Well-advertised brands have the luxury of instant brand recognition and interest because they talk directly to large numbers of consumers. When Vodafone came to New Zealand, it grew from almost zero brand awareness to more than 80% in just four months - by spending millions on advertising. Frucor built V into New Zealand's most successful energy drink in just a few years, again via a multimillion-dollar advertising budget, among other things.

By contrast, non-advertised brands are built slowly through consistent individual product experiences with the consumer: in their homes, at the supermarket, via friends (word of mouth) and, occasionally, in media editorial. It took Mother Earth 20 years to build into the brand it is today - and it is still nowhere near the brand strength of heavily advertised brands like V.

Is this a beat-up on the role of advertising? No, I'm a huge believer in the value of advertising in building a business. Building a brand by spending a significant amount on advertising can be a very effective and more dependable route. But small businesspeople, take heart - there is another way.

Keith Syron runs Venture Research, an advertising monitor

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