Marketing and all things related

Every time I teach a marketing class, there is an assignment at the beginning of the course where students choose one of their favorite advertisements. And some well-meaning student always chooses the Got Milk? campaign. And every semester I applaud the campaign, but remind students that this is an industry, not a company advertisement, and that for more than ten years, this advertising has not, and I repeat not, increased milk consumption.

But milk aside, the tomato industry is preparing to follow the same path. According to The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) “The Food Network, Discovery Health and other cable channels will begin carrying spots in a $500,000 campaign aimed at health-conscious 25- to 54-year-old women and mothers. The four 15-second spots, which will repeat 600 times over several months, will tout the succulence and health benefits of tomatoes.”

The intent here is noble. Two hurricanes devastated the tomato crop in Florida, reducing supply and raising prices. Farmers know this will reduce demand and lower the value of future crops. The idea here is to stimulate demand to protect prices. Marketing Blurb recommends you drink milk and eat tomatoes regardless of the advertising.