G&B managed to "infect" Cadbury and got it to incorporate a lot of their ethical smarts into their own brand. Now with Cadbury being purchased by Kraft, many are questioning if the American company has what it takes to maintain the progress made by these two brands.
In a recent article in The Guardian, one of the founder's of Green & Black's was somewhat optimistic about the prospects. On a side note, it's interesting, he points his finger at consumers for not demanding organic and Fair Trade from brands, of course, this is a little chicken and egg because it often takes a company to lead consumers, as we've seen with Wal-Mart.
"A brand is like a child. It is born into this world, fragile and in great need of parental care and attention. Eventually you send it off to school and university, entrusting it to the care of others. Then it embarks on its career. Green & Black's, to follow the analogy, was nurtured to maturity and eventually got a good job at a big multinational.
It's still our baby. The fact that it can now look forward to continuing its career development with another multinational with a different name (and most of the same shareholders) is not a great cause for concern.
If Kraft screwed up with Green & Black's it would damage their reputation and cast a shadow over their competence. But there is no reason to expect them to goof. They have converted US household names like Oreos and Ritz crackers to organic and even do an organic macaroni-and-cheese dinner.
Every successful organic product represents another welcome step forward in the vital process, whereby the GM dependent climate-destructive industrial farming model gives way to sustainable, organic and fair ways of producing food. Successful corporations identify and follow these deeper underlying trends and would be betraying their shareholders' interest in trying to reverse them.
Frankly, it's the consumers who don't buy organic and fair products that upset me the most. Consumers have a choice, companies don't, they only sell what customers buy. Kraft and Cadbury are on the right track and I am confident the new entity will continue to pursue this.
I have no idea if Kraft will ask me to stay on as president, but if they don't that could be your canary in the coal mine."
Kraft's indirect purchase of Green & Black's follows a familiar pattern of ethical companies falling into their hands of giant corporations- Ben and Jerry's at Unilever, Howies at Timberland and The Body Shop at L'Oreal.
Many of the ethical companies start out with the belief that it's possible to change the world and when purchased may still harbor idealistic notions of this dream because of scale. However, for the acquring company to radically change it's operations, brands etc to all be in-line with the ethical company, is highly unlikely because it's just simply too hard to do.
What's more likely is a token response where the ethical brands sit in limbo and nothing really changes. They can grow because they can distribution muscle, but beyond that, they can't do much.
Posted by Ed Cotton
While TCHO isn't in any position to threaten the likes of Mars, Cadbury and Hershey, it's using it's tiny scale to hack the industry.
Its approach to everything has been to smash the rule book and think again.
Most of their machinery is hacked together, but it's also rich in technology, for instance, they've developed a single iPhone application to remotely control the factory. They also have ambitious plans for virtual and augmented reality to help train employees and monitor the performance of equipment.
They are also putting their tech skills to work out with their cocoa farmers out in the developing world. Perhaps the most significant advance they've made is to remove the subjectivity from the process, by encouraging farmers to fill in complex spreadsheets, where they have to rate the flavors and attributes of their beans.
TCHO simply captures this information, which, over-time will negate the need for having a person in the field or having to travel to farms to taste beans. In addition, they've also taken sensors to cocoa farms that monitor weather conditions, allowing TCHO in San Francisco to have a better handle on how the beans are fermenting.
Flexibility is also a key asset for TCHO, because its equipment is hacked together, they can easily transport it out to the farms and give farmers the chance to taste chocolate from their own beans. Apparently, over 90% of cocoa farmers have never tasted chocolate made from their own beans.
TCHO is also into co-opetition, giving other local boutique chocolate makers access to its machinery, so they can make special runs etc.
Overall, a great example of how a small company can truly sieze the opportunity to be disruptive maverick.
Posted by Ed Cotton
You might remember Glass and a Half productions as a concept that held together Fallon's famous work for the company, including the drumming gorilla. Perhaps, it seemed something of an after thought that would never be truly realized. However, that doesn't seem to be the case as the production company has been given a new lease of life in a very smart strategic play.
Cadbury wants to announce it's brand Dairy Milk's move into the Fair Trade arena, it could have done this with a CSR type blog or print effort that would have ticked several boxes, but generated no real interest, instead, they've gone out and found entertainment talent from Ghana, (the cocoa producers and Fair Trade country of origin), given them exposure and used this effort to help raise money for farmer's causes in the country.
I think the idea of laddering up a serious concept into something appealing and entertaining makes a lot of sense. It's so easy to get lost in all the noise around CSR, that it's very smart to to make a serious idea entertaining.
Posted by Ed Cotton
(1) It's trying to create a new model for the category and business.
Here's what it's doing.
1. It's bringing real science to food
2. It's selling beta product to be tested in the field
3. It's trying to push beyond Fair Trade
4. It's selling chocolate in new packaging
5. It has a new way to sell chocolate- using flavor profiles like "Nutty".....
Here's the pack...
Here's a film that summarizes what they are up to.
It's great to see a company making such imaginative leaps from the get go, one can only hope that consumers appreciate their audacity.
Posted by Ed Cotton
(3) 1. An entertainment based model where marketers work hard to breakthrough the clutter. The goal is to raise awareness and to get people to like you.
2. A utility based model- the brand provides something useful, good and meaningful to its consumers and perhaps the world beyond. Instead of just running regular ads, they are big idea platforms that inspire, encourage engagement and give something back.
If you don’t do either of these, you will die.
The “shouting” benefits model of marketing communication is about to become as extinct as a dodo.
So the challenge for brands that operate is to understand how they get to entertainment and/or utility.
The secret is the same as it has always been.
It’s all about having a disciplined strategic process that allows you to uncover the big idea.
Something that allows you to stand for something that’s way bigger than yourself or your category.
Once you have it, the opportunities become boundless.
It’s a place that comes from a brand truth, but expands way beyond that.
It can be like over the top entertaining emotional “Joy” of Cadbury’s chocolate or Omo’s philosophical belief that “Dirt is Good”.
Think only about small functional benefits and you will die.
It’s time to think big.
What are you about?
What do you believe in?
Posted by Ed Cotton