Baking&Snack - March 2013 - 85

R&D PERSPECTIVE
Theresa Cogswell
bakercogs@sbcglobal.net

Reintroducing
Iconic Brands
Learn from past blunders to avoid ‘horrible’ mistakes.

That particular day will live forever in
infamy and its lesson never forgotten.
The research had been done,
checked and triple-checked. The
consumer panels agreed the changes
were good ones. The “new moister”
Drake’s Cakes hit the store shelves that
morning. The time is now around 10
a.m. CST, and given Drake’s is an East
Coast-based brand, the new products
have been on the shelves approximately four to six hours.
There is an urgent knock at my
door, and I look up to find my
consumer affairs supervisor. “You
need to come downstairs and listen
to the comments from the Drake’s
consumers. They are NOT happy
with the product changes!” stated
the supervisor.
Boy, was she right. Phone lines
were ablaze with disgruntled
consumers. We listened as these
loyal consumers, many who had
eaten the product for more than 20
years, tell us it was “HORRIBLE.”
(To get the full effect of the word
horrible, you must work to get the
R’s stuck in your throat like a growl.)
Now it was time to break the news
to marketing. It was their turn to hear
the “horrible” news. We sat there in
disbelief. Where did we do wrong?
What did we miss in the research?
Before we embarked on this
change, the No. 1 consumer com-

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plaint about Drake’s Cakes had
been, “The product is dry.” So our
job was to do the work to improve
the products. But it was obvious we
had failed to ask the right questions
of the right people. Alienating our
loyal Drake’s consumers was not our
intent, nor was it an option. Now it
was time to swallow our pride and
do the only thing that would save
the brand — change back to the
original formulation.
For a consumer packaged goods
company, the voice of the consumer
in the form of a customer comment
or complaint is a gift. Statistics show
that for every person who calls with
a comment or complaint, there are
35 to 100 consumers who will not
make the phone call. Those 35 to
100 consumers represent the worstcase scenario: They just quit purchasing your product.
Last August, Hillshire Brands
Co., Downers Grove, IL, introduced
a new lemon Sara Lee pound cake
and at the same time announced it
had also updated the recipe for its
all-butter pound cake to be — you
guessed it — “more moist.” If you
want to see the outpouring of public
complaints about this change, you
can go to www.bakingbusiness.com
and search “Sara Lee pound cake.”
Look at the 100+ reader comments
offered. Some even stated in their

complaints that the new version lists
sugar as the first ingredient while
the old version listed eggs first.
Consumers today are smart and
educated, and if you listen, they will
tell you exactly what they are thinking. Swallowing your pride and returning to the original formulation
are hard to do when you make a
mistake, but it may be the only way
to save the product, the brand and
the sales volume.
Currently, there are many iconic
bakery brands laying idle, waiting for their new owners and the
fate that will follow their acquisition. Hostess Twinkies, Chocolate
Cupcakes, Ho Hos, Wonder Bread,
Beefsteak Rye and Home Pride
Breads are but a few of those brands.
There will be countless corporate meetings and executive discussions as to how to reintroduce these
iconic brands. Tens and potentially
hundreds of millions of dollars will
be spent on research and marketing
plans to determine how to best maximize the value of these iconic bakery
brands. Hopefully, someone will take
the time to learn from the mistakes
of other iconic brands. Whether it
is New Coke, Drake’s Cakes or Sara
Lee pound cake, taking a lesson
from the reintroduction mistakes of
other iconic brands will help avoid
“HORRIBLE” mistakes.

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March 2013 / Baking & Snack / 85

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Baking&Snack - March 2013

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