Kraft Takes A Big Bite Out Of The China Market

By redesigning and repositioning the Oreo cookie among other cookies in the China market,Kraft has effectively managed to make the Oreo a top-selling product within the foreign market, in addition to its already established reputation in the US market. The oreo sold in China appears longer, thinner, and four-layered, compared to the Orea design made and sold in the US. The transformation of the Orea design is what allowed Kraft to successfully sell the cookie in China, the world's largest market.

International Business makes up 40% of Krafts revenue, even though Chinese oreo sales represent only a small portion of the corporation's annual revenue. Kraft has used it's success in the Chinese market to further capitalize on the concept of redesigning of its food products to more properly target foreign markets. Profits of the corporation rose 48% within the European Union for example, in part due to Kraft's introduction of dark chocolate, a marketing strategy used to response to the strong preference for dark chocolate in countries such as Germany.

Kraft has acheived global success as an international brand, demonstrated with its ranking as the second largest food company in the world. Kraft has experienced an increase in profits based on the positioning their instant coffee product within the Russian market. The coffee is positioned as a high-end, upscale product, distributed for sale among operas, film festivals, and fashion shows throughout the country.

Kraft has maximized profits in developing markets by 54%. The effectiveness of tits new marketing strategies are profound. Kraft, reacting to the Phillipines's particular fondness of iced tea, released a new iced tea beverage, tailored specifically to the culture of the market.

While Kraft continues to build itself as an international brand, it is still able to maintain a dominating presense within its domestic market of the US, indicating incredible talent at developing brands within multiple differing markets.


[Jargon, Julie. "Kraft Reformulates Oreo, Scores in China." The Wall Street Journal. 25 April 2008: B1]

Arby's Has New Sister-Wendy

Triar Co., parent company of fast food chain Arby's, bought mega-chain Wendy's International, the hamburger chain which was founded by Dave Thomas. The new management has big plans for expansion which includes increasing Wendy's international exposure, as well as broadening the menu selection to include breakfast at US locations. Also, new marketing plans are in the works to position the Wendy's brand towards a new target market of older clientele. Marketing to this new audienc would certainly be a novel approach to gaining market share in the fast food industry compared to strategies of heavyweight McDonalds, which dominates the children market, along with Burger King targeting a young-adult audience.

While Triar seems confident that implementing these few marketing changes will fix the corporation's problems, shareholders remain skeptical. In fact, shareholdrs claim that these same marketing proposals have been suggested in the past, but proved ineffective in saving the company, leaving one to ask: Why would this time be different?

New CEO, Ronald Smith, acknowledges that the restaurant industry is currently a difficult playing field and asserts that Wendy's needs to focus on differentiating itself from top dogs, like McDonalds and Burger King. How would adding a breakfast menu help distinguish Wendy's from other fast food restaurants? Such a change would resemble competitor business, making it less likely for Wendy's to stand out amongst the crowd. Smith's goal is to emphasize the quality and freshness of the food, but is this really enough to turn the company around?

[Adamy, Janet. "After Two Years, Peltz Finally Makes A Deal For Wendy's." The Wall Street Journal 25 Apr. 2008: B1. 25 May 2008 . ]

The Power of "My"

Brands are capitalizing on the use of the word "my" in connection with their products. This trend of labeling a product with the inclusion of the word "my" is an attempt made by advertisers to help build a more meaningful relationship between brands and consumers.

While Apple has been successful with their branding of the word "I" (among the ever popular IPod and IPhone), other companies are moving towards a "possessive" form of the word. The online community portal, MySpace, for example, is one of the most obvious and successful brands, which helps illustrate the fact that this new trend has been dominating the online world. Coca-Cola has made use of this idea, in creating their virtual world, similiar to the idea of SecondLife, www.MyCoke.com.

While "my" appears to be dominating the advertising team, it is unclear how long this trend will last. It is only a matter of time until the next prefix comes onto the scene. Both "i" and "e" are ruled out, and the question arises: what will be next?


[Browne, David. On the Internet, It's All About "My". The New York Times. April 19 2008. Online.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/fashion/20website.html?ref=media]

Is Plum the New Black?

A recent trend amongst advertisers is giving the color plum a new association. This particular shade of purple is being positioned as the new classy, high-end label. The plum label is not only being used to position and classify certain products, but also as a strategy to categorize market segment of consumers.

American Express has used the unique color to not only title their new credit card under the RedPlum name, but also this classification will apply to the market segment which chooses to purchase the new credit card. So as a result of advertisers positioning their products in association to plum, consumers are being forced to ask themselves if they can relate to this association.

So with the new popularity that the color plum is receiving, black may be losing its appeal. Advertisers are realizing the versatility that plum can offer- a versatility that the color black is unable to match. This can be seen also in the development of a television channel called PlumTV and an online computer service called PlumChoice Online.

It should be interesting to see what companies jump on the Plum bandwagon, and which can successfully market their product with such a color association.

[Elliot, Stuart. Plum, the Color, Is Having Its Star Turned. The New York Times. Online.April 18 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin]

An Advertising Icon Passes

The man responsible for turning San Francisco into the innovative realm of advertising, Hal Riney, died at the age of 75 on Monday, March 24th. He spent his career building upbeat, low-key advertising campaigns which proved very successful in his 50 years dedicated the the advertising industry. He is most well-known for his campaigns for Saturn and especially the re-election of President Ronald Reagan.

Advertising Age ranked Mr. Riney's advertising agency as the 30th on a top ten advertising figures of the 20th century. Advertising campaigns for companies such as Saturn, General Motors, Bartles and Jaymes appeared in other Advertising Age lists of top advertising campaigns as well.

He made use of a subtle strategy, one that utilized subtlety and humor. Always direct and sincere, the advertising plans managed to incorporate humor with the casual soft sell approach. This approach to advertising won Mr. Riney hundreds of awards, some of which included 19 Clios, 15 Addys, and 5 Gold Lions at the International Advertising Festival.

His lifetime achievements in the advertising industry are huge, and his powerful methods are utilized by the very best in an attempt to recreate his success.

[Elliot, Stuart. "Hal Riney, Adman for Reagan and G.M., Dies at 75." The New York Times 26
Mar. 2008. 13 Apr. 2008 media/26riney.html?sq=international advertising.html>. ]

Newspaper Spreads to London

The Wall Street Journal is extending its business towards the London market. This move will benefit those in the US market who can access the newspaper several hours before it is released in the United States. This international marketing strategy is a strong one for News Corp's, especially since News Corp just recently came into ownership of the corporation. The paper will be available in airports, including the Heathrow and London City airports. The London market will also be able to catch their US Wall Street Journal editions on a business and individual subscription basis, available throughout central London.

The Wall Street has a rather large following in Europe, with a circulation of 81,140, compared to the United States circulation of 2.1 million. This business expansion is advertised in the Wall Street Journal, being labeled as a smart in depth global political and business expansion that will allow for greater choices and news to be distributed.

This international business move will take place on April 16th and allow 250 locations to distribute the paper. While the news would be the same, the price of acquiring it is uniquely more than double. The London market would pay the equivalent to $5 US currency, while in comparison, the US market pays $1.50. Discovering how this new market takes to the price increase will be interesting. Also, I look forward to seeing how many US readers are willing to pay the $5 for receiving their news a few hours earlier. The price you pay for faster information is certainly a steep one.

[Kardos, Donna. "U.S. Edition of Wall Street Journal To Be Expanded to London."
The Wall Street Journal 2 Apr. 2008. 13 Apr. 2008
.]