Reality vs Perception

What if your success hinges on getting people to do something they don't want or are too embarrassed to do?

While reading Todd G. Buchholz's New Ideas from Dead CEOs, I learned that the California Prune Board was suffering from a stigma they could not shake.

Sure, prunes were good for you, but they were too closely associated with the bowel movements of the elderly and infants.

After a laborious process where the organization had to get the blessing of the Food and Drug Administration, the California Prune Board was able to call their produce "dried plums," and consequently changed their name to the "California Dried Plum Board."

Keep in mind that the product was still exactly the same.

The next year, sales skyrocketed 14%.

This is what I would call a helpful exercise in rebranding. How can you get people to do what they ought to be doing anyway?

Increase adoption rates by removing the stigma.
If you've ever wondered why drug companies market to consumers medicine which that can only be prescribed, this is the reason.

While annoying from one perspective (after all, who wants to explain herpes to a 10-year-old?), it makes perfect sense. When people feel as if the problem shouldn't make them ashamed, and that there is help, they're more inclined to ask for that help.

But don't lie about it.
Not all rebranding efforts are as helpful -- or truthful -- even if they are effective. We see this in politics more than we do in business because the political fallout from relativist truth in politics doesn't occur until a generation or two later, but business isn't immune from the difficulties.

Jewelry retailers, for instance, are notorious for inflating their prices just to give the appearance of a discount. So while they'll run a "sale" touting 40% off certain merchandise, they'll first increase the product price by an equivalent value in order to make such an offer.

The end result is that consumers pay the same as they would have before the "sale."

Jewelers aren't the only ones.

Remember, just because something works doesn't make it right. In fact, it probably doesn't even work in the long run. - Cam Beck

Image by Nasrulkram.

 

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

Thank you for sharing the prune story. Just a note: I am a huge fan of dried prunes, eat them all the time. But the packaging says prunes, not plums. And thoughts?

[Cam Beck]

Lewis - Not sure. Are they from a California Dried Plum Board-sanctioned farm?

[CK]

excellent piece. thanks ;-)

[Toad]

Nice post.
My favorite piece of rebranding (and perhaps the #1 most brilliant piece of ad copy ever) is referring to used cars as "pre-owned vehicles."

The genius behind this is such that people have stopped calling used things "used" and now refer to them as "pre-owned." As in "pre-owned toaster" or "pre-owned printer"

Brilliant.

One clarification though: the other reason for pharma ads is that while you and I and the other readers of this blog have access to good doctors and specialists, a goodly % of Americans don't. They go to the clinic and see a GP who may or may not know anything about herpes or depression. So they need to be educated as to their options, whereas you and I go to doctors specifically because we trust that they are aware of all the latest treatments and options.

[Cam Beck]

Toad - In this day and age, I don't know that there are a whole lot of *physicians* who don't know what herpes and depression *are.* Heck - Half of them probably *got* it going through med school (I kid, I kid).

Maybe I'm wrong, though. I'm willing to see the evidence if it's available.

As for people (who aren't physicians) sure. For that matter, there's a hefty chunk of people who don't know which countries border the U.S. Or when the Civil War was fought. Or between whom.