Tag Archives: magners

Copy cat actions

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Thanks to mark e who left me a comment on my post about motivation.

“btw I suspect the trick is to get people doing something neat that others can copy. The enormous social signal of a pint glass with ice in it is just such a behavioural meme.

On wine suggestions:
Hugh at http://www.gapingvoid.com and his Stormhoek have blended something to suit the ice-cube usage occasion.”

That story came out the day after I posted my thoughts I think (I regularly read gapingvoid, although he is more focused on Microsoft’s Blue Monsters at the moment). Copying an action is one thing, copying a “trademark” action is another, as it will always strike the consumer of the copycat that they are being manipulated in this second case, possibly making them re-evaluate the original.

Some of the pre-teen-friendly pop groups succeded by creating dance routines that the teeny-boppers could copy (e.g. Steps?). Many others followed, with greater or lesser success, but ultimately it becomes part of the marketing repertoire and therefore loses its power.

When it comes to alcoholic drinks, I assume that the target markets are probably aware of this and therefore that the “tail” of this copying action will be short, however I may well be proven wrong.

I don’t know this, but I imagine that “Herd” memories are short and that is why we keep making the same mistakes, so I guess ice manufacturers are going to be in business a little while longer.

External and Internal Motivation

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I read a lot of different blogs these days, things I have come across largely through suggestions from other bloggers (that is the real power of blogging). Sometimes this is called something like “Google-drift” but when it is directed, then it is about learning and spreading your horizons.

One such blog is Herd: The Hidden Truth About Who We Are.

The most recent post chimed with my thoughts on my own recent post. If you want to understand what motivates people then you must realise that it is not just “internal” factors but “external” ones. We interact with those around us, we are part of a “herd” of sorts.

When it comes to building wine brands and motivating 20-30 year olds to be interested in wine and buy more bottles, you have to look beyond what you put on the label and what bottle it will come in, but to what factors would motivate that consumer to even get close to your bottle.

Magners did this with a combination of heavy investment in advertising (mainly tube and bus in London), breaking the mould of a stagnant category (cider) and offering a new format for its product (over ice). They got so many people talking about their product they HAD to try it – even if they hadn’t seen the bottle, tried cider for years or were even thinking about the alcoholic element.

The “cider conversation” has now spread wide enough that Magners cannot even cope with the demand from across the UK and the entire cider category is growing massively. They continue to advertise, but now it is about reach, not innovation; the consumers are doing that themselves.

Now, where is that wine conversation? How do we get 1 million 20-30 year olds talking about wine, any wine? Ideas on a postcard, please.

Wine over ice? No!
Apple wine? That’s just silly!
Chilled red wines for summer? Now there’s an option. Hmmm….