Ged Carroll

Category: fmcg | 雜貨業務 | 소비재 | 食料品事業

FMCG or fast moving consumer goods sprang out of the mass industrialisation. Brands sprang up originally as a guarantee of quality. Later on as these brands needed to be promoted, we saw the foundation of the what we think of as modern marketing and advertising.

Today media and entertainment takes up an increasing amount of the household spend, as does housing, but FMCGs are a crucial part of their essential and disposable income spend.

They have nostalgia wrapped up in them, distinctive aromas, taste and packaging designs. From the smell of my Granny using so much Pledge on the TV that I was surprised it didn’t burst into flame to the taste of Cidona and texture of Boland’s Fig Roll biscuits in my mouth.

The sound of their advertising jingles was the soundtrack of my childhood. Digital advertising is largely rationale, it lacks the fluent devices that provide the centre to advertising and made FMCG advertising iconic. Fluent devices like the Peperami ‘Animal’, the M&M characters or the Cadbury Smash robots were embedded in deep marketing research. FMCG brands still sponsor the best research in marketing science.

I had the good fortune to work inhouse at Unilever and agency-side for their brands. I also managed to work on Coca-Cola and Colgate during my time in Hong Kong.

  • G Collection

    Godiva have come out with some bling-bling chocolates designed by a pastry chef appropriately named the G collection. The G collection moves Godiva deeper into luxury territory than it already is. It also marks a change in luxury that started with premium fragrances. Luxury is now about (relatively) accessible experiences, rather than its traditional space of luxury goods. 

    This kind of chocolate is designed to evoke the bespoke chocolates that would be available at the best restaurants and hotels. Obviously Godiva might be making this at a slightly more industrial scale.

    Godiva is thinking about the G collection as a halo brand. Think about the relationship between a Mercedes-AMG GT and the Mercedes A-Class saloon. Both have prestige positioning, but there is a world of difference in price and what the car says about you.

    They were ostentatious in nature. They are statement chocolates. It is an ostentatious enough for a statement gift and highly Instagrammable. The G collection are impressive, well crafted but not necessarily any better than other premium chocolates. It is much more about appearance, or more precisely about being seen. That being seen is important. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had many people gift the chocolates to themselves so that they can show on their social channels that they are living their best life. 

    The real question is who is the customer base who would pay for these chocolates. If you are really that well off, you would be able to get access to an artisan chocolatier and that does make you wonder about the seriousness of the product launch. The prices are that eye wateringly expensive. Godiva are looking to have the chocolate equivalent of Cristal or a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, so expect to see them in a Snoop Dogg video soon. Kudos to Trendwatching for the heads up. More luxury related posts here. 

  • Swiffer

    Swiffer is a US homeware brand owned by Proctoer & Gamble. Proctor & Gamble had to do a product recall last week on a battery operated vacuum cleaner that they sold in the US market under the Swiffer name. The product could overheat in certain circumstances and they had received 14 complaints. I was impressed by the recall notice on the front of the website, it showed real class. Rather than hiding behind legalese, they put personality to it and even had it signed by ‘Kris from the Swiffer team’. This conduct is likely to help them protect their Swiffer brand and reduce panic amongst consumers whilst still ensuring an orderly recall of the product.

    I have pasted the copy below because I have no idea how long P&G will keep it on their website.

    Swiffer Sweep+VacImportant product news

    As you know, we are very sorry to announce that Swiffer will be voluntarily recalling our new product, Sweep+Vac. The Sweep+Vac is our new battery-operated vacuum cleaner brought to you in September 2004.

    We are pleased to reassure you that this product recall does not involve any of our other great Swiffer products.

    We have identified an isolated Sweep+Vac product quality issue. Click here for complete details.

    If you have this product at home, we are asking that you stop using the Sweep+Vac immediately and disconnect the Sweep+Vac by removing the top section of the handle. Click here for instructions on how to disassemble your Sweep+Vac.

    Even though this issue has been observed in just a few Sweep+Vac units, we have taken this voluntary measure to ensure the highest standards of quality, safety, and satisfaction by recalling Sweep+Vac as quickly as possible. If you have purchased a Sweep+Vac, we would like to provide you with a refund. Click here for refund instructions.

    We’d like to thank the initial consumers who alerted us to this problem. We are very committed to delivering the highest standard of product quality and take these types of issues very seriously.

    We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support of Swiffer,

    Kris from the Swiffer team

    More related content here.