How to shake things up in a low-interest category

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Most butter ads are ignorable. 

Zero personality. Same brand promise yada yada. Nothing memorable. 

So how do you shake things up to reinvigorate consumer interest in a familiar, boring, low-interest category... like butter?

Flora UK recently showed the World how to pave the path.

Last January Flora introduced their plant-based butter alternative. 

And Flora introduced it in a radical, weird yet memorable new way. 

You see, Flora Plant tastes and is creamy just like any ordinary butter. 

So with the help of ad agency Pablo London Flora took this simple truth and shook things up by challenging consumers to “Skip the cow”. 

This simple message was first delivered through a 30-second documentary-style commercial featuring a fictional persona called Terry, owner of Terry’s Cafe. 

The commercial starts with Terry addressing a classic consumer objection to plant-based butter. 

Terry says, “Yeah I know people say it tastes great and rich and creamy, but I’m not trying it. No... I’m sticking with butter, thank you.”

Then Terry adds, “Oooooh, made from plants? Well, call me old fashioned, but I prefer my plants to have passed through all four chambers of a cow’s stomach and then expressed through the udders, as milk. Lovely. Normal.”

Don’t laugh, but this is a genius way of dramatizing the problem: Isn’t it weird that butter is “made in cows”?

If you think about it...every product is simple solution to a consumer problem. 

So the more interesting, weird and top-priority the problem, the more important it is to position your alternative with a BANG. 

If sales are flat or you’re launching a new product in a familiar, boring, low-interest category.... look beyond category norms and reframe your importance. But do it with a BANG.

Flora also released a series of billboards to challenge UK consumers to “skip the cow”

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》”Dangerous” Ideas…

If sales are flat or you’re launching a new product in a familiar, boring, low-interest category…

1/ Find an interesting/weird/fun stat that reframes the importance of the category (and positions your brand as the obvious solution)

My favorite example: Tonic water is usually the boring part of a cocktail. But British brand Fever-Tree found a fun angle to position their products as more important than what consumers think: “If three-quarters of your drink is the mixer, make sure you use the best.”

2/ Find something relatable or new in popular culture and link your category to it.

from London Strategy Unit’s Guide For Growth

3/ Dramatize the problem and rescue the consumer with “your clever and punchy solution”

via Deck Of Brilliance

In a World where everything has turned grey Fiat just made a very bold move. Fiat promises no more grey cars in "Operation No Grey​". 👏👏👏

Your pal,

Miguel Ferreira

🚀 Founder & Chief Copywriter: Teardwn ↬ “Hire me to give voltage to your website copy”
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