Smooth Operator
A billboard got my attention yesterday as I Santander’d through London on my way to a meeting. As Smooth as Hellmann’s only Heinzier, it proclaimed, above a jar of Heinz Mayonnaise. As I peddled on, vaguely wishing my bike had a higher gear and a crossbar, I started to develop some thoughts of indignation…
Why were Heinz advertising their biggest competitor? And why were they using a line that sounded like the kind of passive aggressive response a tired focus group participant gives when asked that brand imagery question? And why, given these schoolboy errors, did they look so proud of their slogan, with its glorious big typeface?
As I pulled hard on the slightly soggy brakes at a red light, I mused sagely over the witty and incisive critique of this ad that I might pen when I got back to the office.
Safely installed behind computer screen, it seemed appropriate to do a little bit of background digging on the campaign, lest I’d failed to understand something important. Well….
Turns out the brand manager says it will drive category growth and will “…encourage the re-appraisal of shoppers’ mayonnaise brand of choice.” At which point it dawned on me that there might be another – altogether shinier – flipside to the coin. So I contritely reeled my sagely indignation back in.
There is a school of thought arguing that mental availability is pretty much primordial for any brand. First and foremost, make sure lots of people are well aware of your existence; so that, when the moment comes for buying a new tyre, or a pen or a holiday flight or – in this case – a jar of mayo, your brand name fires neurons of reassuring familiarity. Without widespread mental availability, no penetration; without penetration, no growth. Deal with the emotional identification bit after you’ve achieved the mental availability; or do both at the same time, but whatever you do, don’t neglect mental availability …goes the theory.
If the theory is right, then the ad seems rather clever. It tells us that a brand everyone associates with ketchup and baked beans plays in the mayonnaise category. And since Hellmann’s is the category, to all intents and purposes, it makes very good sense to mention them in your ad. Mental availability job – in part at least – done, I assume. The sales figures will tell their own story for sure, but perhaps that poster is the advertising equivalent of the judo-throw where you use your opponent’s weight against her.
Quite what “Heinzier” means, on the other hand, is anyone’s guess. Though perhaps that’s the point.
