Espresso: Seth Godin Heinz Ketchup's One Marketing Secret

0:06so you said um a brand is not a logo what what would you say in one sentence is a brand brand brand is a promise It's what we expect when we open the container. And what would you say are, what are some of your favorite seat? We don't, because I think we look at the U S as kind of the, the creativity hub for, for CPG brands specifically, but what are some of your, out of everything we've discussed today, the storytelling, the attention, the scarcity, the fear, the affiliation status, what are some brands that are really doing that well in terms of CPG, in terms of getting brands into, say, supermarkets?

0:47Well, getting a brand into a supermarket has nothing to do with what we just talked about. Supermarkets are there for everyone. Giving shelf space to stuff that only a few people want is something they have to do to keep those people from going somewhere else. But what they really want is to sell things that everyone wants. So that's not the place to look for examples. The place to look for examples are around the edges. Where is the stuff that we would miss if it were gone? where there isn't an easy substitute, where people will go out of their way and invest time or money to get that thing because it's that thing that comes with the story.

1:24So, you know, Pump Street Chocolate out of the UK or Original Beans out of the UK or Switzerland or Tony Cocoloni, which has such a great story and their origin story is magical. If I put any of those things out around Halloween, it's going to have a totally different impact on kids than if I put out a Hershey bar or Nestle bar. So that's where the shift happens. My wife runs the biggest craft gluten-free bakery in the world. And I see that people go out of their way to buy her stuff at Whole Foods, go out of their way to visit her stores because she's offering everyone a seat at the table. By the way, bakery doesn't say this is the best muffin you ever tasted.

2:06It says this is a really good muffin that everyone you know can eat because it's gluten-free and dairy-free, but it's also delicious. And that choice, that's her choice. I didn't tell her to do this, but that is what happens when you understand what the change you're here to make is. What would make people miss you if you were gone? Quick one, guys. Espresso's got a brand new sponsor, Unleashed. Unleashed is inventory management software that talks directly to your finance and econ software. We use Unleashed daily at Ireland's. I bloody love it. We've got our admin time in half saving approximately 30k a year why use it save money save headaches save stress get granular clarity on your margins know where your stock is don't miss availability look your favorite brands literally use unleashed as their backbone candy kittens tiny rebel trip all use it religiously look there's a link in the show notes please feel free to book a call with josh he's a wonderful sales team at unleashed they're amazing even nothing comes of it and even better news you'll get your first month free if you reference hungry thank you final question seth um so i i'm one of my obsessions is the hero's journey by joseph campbell and like i think we've all got to be our own hero in our own journey in some respects but i believe brands brands can make you or yeah basically you can become a hero in your in the brand's journey or story.

3:33I think Nike Just Do It is the perfect example. I know when I don't fancy going to the gym, I say just do it. I'm becoming the hero of that story. How do you think brands can begin to occupy that 1 % in people's brains and help them become the hero of the brand story? We don't engage with any brand because the brand wants us to. We engage with brands because we want? What's in it for me? Status, affiliation, fear. How does this help me see myself in the mirror the way I want to see myself? And after the fact, we often tell ourselves this story. So Malcolm Gladwell has pointed out the reason Heinz ketchup is what it is, the reason there there's 50 kinds of mustard, but only one kind of ketchup is because it's the first product that a mom lets her three-year-old apply themselves.

4:31So when you eat in the US, when you eat Heinz ketchup, you are thinking of your mom. And when you do that, a whole bunch of things come with it that have nothing to do with the Heinz Corporation. And the same thing's true with the pizza you grew up with, that there's a whole suburban pizza theory that the reason the quality of pizza in the US went down so fast because we like the pizza we grew up with. And so when people move to the suburbs, they eat lousy pizza. So they grew up to think that lousy pizza is what they want. And there are all these different complicated ways that humans calculate what is it to be them.

5:07And so Marcel Proust wrote about it a very long time ago, but it's still true. Give me a Madeleine that reminds me of something and you don't have to worry about you all thank you so so much for listening it honestly means the world to me i hope you enjoyed your morning coffee and go and have an amazing day let's be having ya if you want the full episode it will be in the show notes and it will be in the show notes the full episode thank you so much please leave friends as well means the world to me