Marketing Courage

Calvin L. Hodock

Professor of Marketing, Berkley College

It takes marketing courage to attack yourself.  Marketers often lack this, preferring to rest on their laurels.  Bottled water is an example.  Both Coke and Pepsi watched their customers drift towards bottled water usage.  Was this a trend or a temporary aberration?

We have found that trends tend to be anchored in multiple benefits which was the case with bottled water. Women started drinking it for weight control.  Goodbye Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.  Worker bees and exercise enthusiasts took to bottled water for replenishment.  The only beverage allowed in many high school and college classrooms was bottled water.  Conclusion:  There are lots of multiple benefits associated with bottled water consumption. Get with it Pepsi and Coke. Bottled water was a serious competitor.

Trends also tend to be anchored in acceptance by two important segments---working women and baby boomers.  Both were early embracers of the virtues of bottled water.

Another clue that bottled water had staying power.

Pepsi immediately jumped into the water with Aquafina. Sorry for the pun.  However, Coke remained on the beach sunning itself under an umbrella of self-content.  Coca- Cola was Holy water.  Why drink anything else?  Their Holy water was on “the wrong side of the health and wellness trend  that had invaded their coalified world.” So Coke recently paid $4.2 billion, in cash for Vitaminwater, because Pepsi had trumped them in noncarbonated beverages. Coke could have saved the money for their shareholders if thay had understood the importance of marketing courage.

A company that has the courage to attack itself: Gillette.  The company that went from blue blades, stainless steel, Trac II, Atra, disposable blades, Sensor, Sensor Excel, Mach 3 and more recently Fusion, with six blades carrying a premium price over the already very pricey Mach3.  Gillette was even willing to accept the lower margins of disposables confronted with the reality that Bic was bringing disposable blades from Europe to the US.

But, Gillette’s “attack yourself strategy” was rooted in a painful experience.  The company refused to believe that an obscure sword company from the UK could represent serious competition.  Gillette’s share of market plummeted with the US introduction of Wilkinson stainless steel blades.

Surprisingly, Gillette was already marketing stainless blades in the Swiss and Swedish markets before Wilkinson arrived in the US market. The company even owned the patent on the silicone for the Wilkinson stainless steel blades. Why was Gillette slow to adopt stainless steel blades?

The company drooled over the rapid use-up rate associated with their “nick and cut” blue blades. Why market longer lasting stainless steel blades? This might adversely impact the bottom line.

 Despite millions of dollars of marketing research in the filing cabinets, men never complained about Gillette blue blades until they tried the alternative stainless steel blades.  Consumers can’t always tell us what their problems are.

Nevertheless, Gillette did learn from the Wilkinson experience the importance of marketing courage in shaping its future.

Gillette is ready for their next attack.  In an R&D laboratory in London resides Gillette’s next wet shaving innovation. It is ready to be unleashed when Fusion had run out of steam. Gillette controls its future with aggressive innovation rather than letting the competition shape its destiny.

Which path to follow?  Gillette or Coke?  It’s our choice.  All it takes is the marketing courage to attack an endangered product with innovative. In many categories, marketing courage separates the winners from the losers.