How stupid do brands think people are? Discussing Heinz’s decision last week to drop the word ‘baked’ which has graced its tins of iconic beans since 1886, John Alderman, marketing manager for the company said: “Heinz Beanz have been powering the nation for over a hundred years and to say thank you to our loyal fans, we have given this iconic product a 21st century makeover”.
Well ‘thanks’ for er… nothing Mr Alderman. The new tins (which go on sale from August) will still be printed in their familiar turquoise colour. However, instead of the word ‘baked’ there will be a picture of some their lovely beans oozing out of the label. This is so the consumer will know what’s inside the tin without having to read the word ‘baked’.
Whilst the new design is pretty, the reasons for the new design are questionable. According to the company’s PR people, the reverse of the new tin will highlight the beans’ nutritional benefits – low in fat and sugar (Heinz has reduced the salt content by 30 per cent over the last five years) and high in fibre and protein: All good stuff. However the other reason for the new label is apparently because consumers are just too dumb to say the world ‘baked’ when asking for a tin in the local supermarket. So now they only have to say ‘Heinz Beanz’ rather than Heinz Baked Beans’.
Whilst grammar students would question the idea of ‘beanz’ rather than ‘beans’, I totally understand the branding thinking and it’s a reasonable one. However, dropping ‘baked’ because Heinz believe that the average 850 million Britons who eat their product each year (that’s equivalent to 96,000 plates an hour) can’t get manage to pronounce an additional one syllable word is frankly an insult.
The move is reportedly costing the company up to £5 million. (Presumably that includes the cost of the extra ink not such a good idea in these green- conscious days).
This is all nothing compared the current cost of baked beans in Zimbabwe where that most congenial of grocers – Mr Mugabe – is charging tin Z$30 billion tin.
Now that really is a mouthful for consumers to swallow.
Jonathan Gabay
www.brandforensics.co.uk
Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 8:21 amand is filed under Brand expert, Branding, fmcg, Food, top brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 am
Hello webmaster, I read this post titled “beans are just too much of a mouthful” about a week ago, might have been last Sunday, and thought it was a good point. I’ve been trying for the last few days to find your site again but ended up finding it in Google using the keywords “wholesale outdoor gifts”. Anyway, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to post last week but I will be returning regularly. Bookmarked the page.