Turning an apparent problem into an advantage

The words “crisis” and “recession” have taken on a life of their own; you read them in the newspapers, hear them on the radio, one can almost taste them. It is during such times that creativity becomes more important and companies have to make a greater investment in advertising to stay afloat and prosper.

Take this case: during the 1960s people complained that Heinz ketchup took too long to pour out of the bottle, and competing products seemed easier and more convenient to use. The evident choice would have been to study whether the problem was in the design of the bottle or in the formula of the product; but that would mean facing the competition in a conventional fashion and in their same ground. Instead of that, they pushed conventional thinking aside and turned their apparent disadvantage into a competitive edge, thus changing the rules of the competition. A new campaign was put in place to convince consumers that ketchup made by Heinz took longer to pour because it was much thicker, and thus it had to be better. They coined the slogan (please bear with me as I’m translating this from spanish) “the slowest pouring ketchup” and in the subsequent years their market share grew from 15% to 50%.

All of this is told by John Sculley in his book “Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple”; Sculley eventually became the vice president of Pepsi after working as a marketing executive for the company, and his greatest achievement during that time was to have Pepsi surpass its strongest competitor, Coca-Cola. In his book, he proposed the following:

“Usually, one can only nullify a competitor’s advantage by changing the basic rules of the competition itself, instead of fighting that competitor in the same ground and with its rules”.

In the late 80s, the advertising industry of the UK was going through an important crisis. In an attempt to stimulate the business, a TV ad was created and aired; it showed a plane heading to the center of a storm. Lightning flashed closer and closer, wind and rain hit the plane with increasing strength. Then the following text was displayed:

Do you think it’s the right time to turn off one of your engines?

Advertising is one of the elements that support a business, and it is during times of crisis that one has to make greater efforts, instead of cutting corners. The natural instinct of many of your competitors will be precisely that, cutting investment in image and advertising; that provides an ideal opportunity to make a serious investment and rise above the competitors.

Economic theory teaches us that advertising stimulates consumption and accelerates innovation. Again, in times of crisis, investing in publicity will help a company grow its client base and income. To put it differently, it is a way to make sure your engine will have enough fuel to clear the storm.