You’re a new-ish player in the market.
You’re challenging the leading brand – already established for decades.
The brand you’re challenging is a British institution, ingrained in our psyche – one we have affection for. In fact, it’s the default choice.
You’re really going to have to work hard to shift people towards your brand.
With that in mind, this is bloody awful:
First of all, this ad was on page 23 of the newspaper it was in. Few people will even get to page 23.
Why didn’t their media planning and buying agency go for ‘Within the first 10 pages, right-hand page’?
Putting that aside, for an ad challenging the leading brand, it’s just so boring – so literal: let’s show the can, and a statement, and call the sauce ‘rich and tomatoey’… yawwwwwn.
It asks a question, which is always risky as you leave it to the consumer to answer, and the answer here has to be ‘no’, the ‘other beans’ are not ‘toast’ (awful pun): as mentioned, Heinz beans have been the leading brand for decades and they’re a British institution. A terrible, literal ad from the challenging brand won’t change that.
Also, putting words (rich, thick, tomatoey, love) in different fonts doesn’t make the boring copy any more intersting.
And of course Branston would say ‘it’s the sauce we know you’ll love’… in their own ad.
‘The Branston Bean Challenge’ – how old-as-the-hills is that, making trying a new brand ‘a challenge’?
Pepsi started that in 1975 – 45 years ago.
Calling it a ‘challenge’ to try a new brand is so old hat that it’s a cliche. And putting ‘The Branston Bean Challenge’ as a logo, with a little fork emblem, doesn’t make it any more original.
Also, trying a baked bean is hardly a challenge…
I hark back to the old Avis car rental ads: ‘We’re no.2, so we try harder’…’We’re no.2, so our queue is shorter’.
At least they put some effort in.
Branston are going to have to work a lot harder if they want to shift people away from Heinz baked beans.