Jack and Jill are Crackers!

Invented in 1896, Cracker Jack® was arguably the first junk food. It’s been inextricably linked to baseball, enshrined in songs, and eating it is a rite of passage during childhood.

Yet regular readers of this column will recall how disappointing the prizes have become. And I apologize for writing so often about brand extensions.

But these topics matter as we consider the brand extension called…wait for it…Cracker Jill®.

No, I’m NOT kidding!

Introduced last year, Cracker Jill is really Cracker Jack in new packaging. This new hook is meant to increase sales while promoting women and girls in sports by partnering with the nonprofit Women's Sports Foundation.

The I Am Cracker Jill contest gives $5,000 to eight finalists. One grand prize winner receives $5,000 and is featured on a Cracker Jill bag.

Five such bags are currently out and can be purchased at professional ball parks for a $5 donation to the Foundation. A modified version of “Take me out to the Ball Game” has been written to (hopefully) appeal to feminists, and Cracker Jack is donating $200,000 to the foundation.

What a guy!

Regardless of what you sell, you can take a lesson from this example. Because while I’m not a fan of everything corporate parent PepsiCo® has done with Cracker Jack, I believe they set a good marketing example here by:

·         Making a mature brand more relevant

·         Tying in to current social trends

·         Branding with real people

·         Utilizing a logical product name sure to stick in consumers’ minds

As we all know, you won’t make many sales without being known, liked and trusted. Cracker Jack is trying to leverage a history of checking all those boxes to move more product.

As you’re developing your marketing strategies for the next few fiscal quarters, consider what’s going on in the world around you in search of ways to expand your own message, visibility and sales.

Because there are unquestionably countless opportunities that you can utilize to increase visibility, attention, and sales with your customer base.

Conclusion: Even if your brand isn’t as iconic as Cracker Jack, you, too, can present a fresh face to the world and get customers singing about you during the seventh inning stretch.

Now if they could just get back to having real prizes…

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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Get other great ideas at www.marketbuilding.com.

b2c marketing, branding, business/marketing plans, customer relations, marketing trivia, packaging, sales promotion, strategic planningRob WeinbergMBT Consultingcracker jack, cracker jill, ask mister marketing, ask mr. marketing, pepsi, pepsico, i am cracker jill, women's sports foundation, UT Community Press Newspapers, san diego union tribute, san diego union tribune, poway chamber of commerce, poway chieftain, poway marketing consultant, rancho bernardo, rancho bernardo news, rancho bernardo sunrise rotary, rancho bernardo marketing consultant, the coast news, coast news, carlsbad rotary, carlsbad, carlsbad chamber of commerce, carlsbad marketing consultant, mr. marketing, Marketing strategy, marketing strategy, marketing, marketbuilding, marketbuilding team, marketing plan, mister marketing, marketing communications, marketing consultant, marketing advice, b2c marketing, packaging, Sales, sales promotion, branding, brand extensions, brand stretchingComment