Every brewery at the time was shouting that their beer was “clean.” Without a definition of what “clean” meant, no brewery could rise above the others. Hopkins couldn’t help Schlitz until he understood the product and its market. So Schlitz gave him a tour of its brewery.
Hopkins saw rooms where finished beer was piped through the brewery to filter out air bubbles. Each pump and pipe was cleaned twice a day, and bottles were sterilized four times a day. And finally, Hopkins saw artesian wells 4,000 feet deep that provided the water supply. Schlitz conducted about 1,200 experiments to create brewer's yeast.
Hopkins' first question was, "Why don't you tell your customers you latest phone number database do all this?" The answer was that every brewery did it that way, and there was nothing special about it.
That was true, but Hopkins urged Schlitz to advertise with stories about its brewing process, because no other brewery did. So Hopkins created ads with stories that explained to customers why Schlitz beer was "clean."
As a result, in just a couple of months, Schlitz rose in the rankings from eighth to first place. Conclusion: Talk about your product!
2. Don't work against your brand's perception
Many marketing campaigns fail, some disastrously. Many large companies sometimes go far beyond their market. For example: Life Savers once promoted a soda in the 80s, and it actually tasted pretty good.
But after a short domestic push, the company had to shut down. It turns out that consumers thought they would be drinking liquid candy. Sounds tempting, but the market didn't buy into the idea.
Herbal Essences shampoos achieved their wild success thanks to their provocative advertising. But in 1979, their Yogurt Touch shampoo exploded in the most epic sense. Some confused customers even managed to taste it! Mmmmm... yogurt for hair, anyone?
To sell it, they actually used real yogurt, not artificial flavors. But dairy products tend to spoil. And how about a multi-million dollar lawsuit over your product?
Finally, McDonald's launched big with a new product, and in return received a huge disappointment. They created burgers for the most demanding customers - adults. At that time, McDonald's was known mainly as a restaurant for children.
McDonald's spent $300 million developing, producing and marketing the Arc Deluxe, "a burger with grown-up flavor," and it's now one of the biggest flops in history. What's odd, though, is that it can still be found in France and Russia.