Following Up on Previous Blogs: Credit Card Companies, Budweiser and Dr Pepper

Hallelujah!

The Federal government has finally outlawed some of the most onerous practices of the credit card industry. I blogged (ranted) on these practices back on 11/18 and was thrilled to read yesterday that many of these practices will no longer be allowed. Starting in July 2010 (why we have to wait so long is beyond me), credit card companies will not be allowed to change the APR they are charging on existing balances. They will be allowed to raise your APR if you are late (more than 30 days) but this new APR can not be retroactively applied to existing balances. It will only apply to your new balances. WOW! Finally some fairness in financial marketing. Better late than never.

But wait a minute. How are the credit companies responding now that they have almost 18 months to get ready for this new fairer reality? You guessed it. They're going to shaft us as much as they can between now and then. Many have already started to raise their rates to squeeze their customers as hard as they can between now and when the new regulations go into effect. Boneheaded, short-sighted marketing thinking if you ask me.

Wouldn't it be cool if just one of these credit card companies finally wised up and took advantage of the situation to implement the new policies NOW - way ahead of the deadline? Imagine the marketing power of positioning your company as leading and embracing this change. It's a major opportunity for someone in the industry that has the guts to step forward and outdistance the competition. Will it happen? Probably not.


Moving on to the world of beverages......

In my blog on 11/25, I chastised Bud and Dr Pepper for wrong-headed communication strategies on two of their brands - specifically the "drinkability" strategy that Bud is trying to leverage and the "complex flavor/drink it slow" strategy that Dr Pepper is using.

Well, Bud is now on its third campaign trying to bring this weak "drinkability" strategy to life. I assume they've probably looked at dozens of others that have been rejected. What a titanic waste of time and money! Bud is normally an exceptionally savvy marketer, so this is out of character for them. I'm betting that we won't see a fourth iteration of this failed strategy and that something new will be with us by The Super Bowl, when Bud always seems to make a big splash with something new and wonderful.

Unfortunately, Dr Pepper shows no sign of wising up. The wrong-headed campaign that I want to comment on today is for Diet Dr Pepper. The gist of the strategy is that Diet Dr Pepper tastes too sweet to be called "Diet." Spots show a six pack marching down the candy aisle in a grocery store and being hailed by sugary treats as one their own. This strategy is wrong for two reasons. First "sweetness" is relative. What tastes sweet to me, may not taste sweet to you. Second, "sweetness" is not universally positive. I may like sweet things but you may not. What is "too sweet" to me is not going to be "too sweet" for you. Diet Coke broke diet soft drink tradition when it was launched over 25 years ago with a "Just for the Taste of it" brand positioning that was brilliant. It was the first "diet" soft drink that said nothing about dieting or calories in its advertising. It focussed on great taste and fun and refreshment. This Diet Dr Pepper advertising team needs to study the early work on Diet Coke. This "sweetness" strategy they're currently following is all wrong.

I predict that Bud will be back on track a lot sooner than Dr Pepper. The fact that Bud is moving from campaign to campaign shows that they know they have a problem. Dr Pepper seems oblivious.

Budweiser and Dr Pepper Both Need to Lighten Up

I've spent a lot of years in the beverage business, so I pay more attention to what all the major players are doing with their marketing and advertising than the average Joe.  I'm more likely to notice when any of them do something particularly clever or when any of them do something that seems boneheaded.

In general, I am a huge fan of how Budweiser handles its marketing and advertising investment, but their new "Drinkability" strategy for Bud Light strikes me as completely ridiculous.  Who are they talking to?  

1. Are they trying to persuade competitive beer drinkers to switch to Bud Light because it is somehow easier to drink?  Do they think that someone is finding their current brand of suds hard to drink?  Do they think that any beer drinker needs permission to drink more beer?  
   
2. Are they talking to current Bud Light drinkers to persuade them to stay with the brand because it is more "drinkable", whatever the heck that means? 

Target audience issues aside, what makes Budweiser think that they can leverage "drinkability" in the first place?  It's a silly concept that has no universal meaning.  What's drinkable to me may not be drinkable to you.  There is no objective standard that defines "drinkability."  When you watch the ads, you see that they struggle to explain the term and then they try to convince you that Bud Light has more of it.  This is a recipe for advertising disaster and all the ads that I've seen stink.  They are so tragically beneath the high standard that Budweiser has established for its advertising that it makes you wonder "what is wrong at Bud HQ these days?"  I predict sanity will soon reign again at Bud and that this direction for them will be very short-lived.

The other beverage company that has puzzled me in the last year with the strategic direction of their advertising is Dr Pepper.  The first misstep was trying to persuade people that 7 Up was "natural."  It's a soft drink for crying out load!  There is practically nothing more unnatural.  This strategy was an insult to our collective intelligence.  7 Up is "The Uncola" and why they have abandoned that fundamentally sound brand positioning is beyond me.

Dr Pepper has recently launched a new strategy for the mother brand, Dr Pepper.  The brand has traditionally been positioned around user imagery - specifically the individuality of Dr Pepper drinkers compared to cola drinkers.  "Be a Pepper" was a delightful expression of that and it worked for the brand for years.  Now, they're trying to persuade me that Dr Pepper should be my soft drink because of its more complex flavor - specifically that is made up of 23 different flavors.  Am I the only one who finds this not only hard to believe but completely irrelevant?  Since when was buying a soft drink about something so esoteric as its flavor recipe?  Why should I care that is has 23 different flavors?  The only imagery it brings to my mind is that of the pretentious wine drinker who sniffs and sips and then pronounces that the wine has "a note of blackberries and a slight aroma of cherries."  Dr Pepper isn't wine.  It's a soft drink.  

Both Budweiser and Dr Pepper need to lighten up.  Beers and soft drinks are supposed to be about fun, good times and sociability.  It's not rocket science.  It's not about complex concepts like "drinkability" and "23 flavors." It's about simple physical and emotional refreshment.