The Brilliance of Not-Saying-a-Word Marketing
Consumers were up in arms. They complained that there were too many artificial flavors and colors in foods—and other products—that they enjoyed like cereal, beverages, packaged foods and health & beauty producs. Many CPG’s took action and began to promote their products as “natural” or focused in on a key change like: “We removed Red Dye No 2!”
Meantime, Kraft had been working away for three years to remove artificial preservatives and dyes from its famed Macaroni & Cheese and then put it back out in the market with barely a whisper. It waited to share the news with consumers until they had purchased more than 50 million boxes without much notice that anything had changed.
Kraft’s ad partner, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, ran with the strategy that it would be best to say nothing until it was time to say things are still the same: the look, the taste, the feel. Catch up on how it all went down in this article from the New York Times. Brilliant marketing!