Spaghetti Sauce and Pickles

One of the most interesting things about these two articles to me was the power of consumer choice. In this day and age, consumers have so many choices and have the power to choose a product based on a number of characteristics and feel empowered because they feel that they are getting a product that they truly want or need. This enhances consumer happiness. In the case of spaghetti sauce, Prego was able to capitalize on this idea of differing customer preferences by creating a variety of sauces. This is why today there are thirty six types of Ragu spaghetti sauce and we see so many options inside of grocery stores.

One thing that really got me thinking from the TED Talk was when he was talking about pickles and he said that rather than improving your original, you need to create a “zesty.” This was very interesting to me because in the realm of customer decision making and the power of choice, consumers really want to feel like they got to make an input on what they consume. By giving the consumer the ability to choose between original and zesty pickles, you are giving them more than just two types of pickles. You are giving them the opportunity for self expression, individuality, and the chance to make a decision on their particular preferences. Some may argue that purchasing pickles is hardly an exercise in personality expression, but I disagree. If marketers capitalize on this idea, they can use products to appeal to certain consumers’ persona and not just their taste buds. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the idea that Pepsi beat Coke in a blind taste test, but “no one ever drinks Coke blind.” This elaborates on the idea that consumers pick goods based on what the brand means to them, their power of choice, and what makes them happy as an individual.

Another lesson I learned was that consumers really do not know what they want. This idea was mentioned in both the TED Talk and Kenna’s Dilemma. They say the best way to find out about consumer preferences is to ask them, but in actuality consumers don’t report what they actually prefer. Malcolm Gladwell uses the example about coffee. He said when asked, the majority of coffee drinkers will report that they prefer a dark, rich, hearty blend of coffee. However, most coffee drinkers actually like weaker coffee. In Kenna’s Dilemma he talks about the best way to gather information about preferences is to observe. By looking at the way consumers dress, how they act, where they hang out, what is inside of their closet, and looking for trends, a marketer can gain a lot more insight than if they only focus on other types of market research like surveys, etc.

I was particularly interested in the study they did between Christian Brothers brandy and E&J brandy. The study showed that packaging can influence a customer’s decision making process on which product tastes better. I was surprised to find out that packaging could have such strong influence of a consumer’s preference even in a taste test. Christian Brothers simply had to change their package to increase market share. It seems like such an arbitrary factor when it comes to decision making, but apparently packaging can have big implications. I hope to research more about this study and similar studies to use in my paper since I am writing about customer insights and packaging.