Thursday, June 28, 2007

Candy car product packaging - a hint to product managers?

I attended a presentation yesterday. A few examples with consumer candy (chocolate and ice cream) marketing principles were highlighted.

In Sweden we have a perfect example. Are you familiar with "Ahlgrens bilar"? It's candy cars, quite popular in Sweden, that have been manufactured since 1953. More or less unchanged.

Each bag contains candy cars in three colours. It is a regular discussion subject if each colour have a separate flavour or not... (The answer seems to be "no", but I have not seen a confirmation on this. On the contrary - the formal statement is that this is a company secret).


A perfect product targetting traditionalists (?). I can imagine that any changes to the concept will trigger protests.

The brand of "Ahlgrens bilar" have been used in various campaigns. A few years ago two complementary products was launced - Spare tires and road signs.

Nice way of refreshing the brand. But of course these are essentially new products, with investments in new production lines etc.

Now comes the magic!
This might be a temporary marketing campaign, but I think it's brilliant. How can you evolve a product which contains cars in three colours?
The answer: create three new products. One for each colour. A fresh approach while keeping the old concept.
It will not upset the consumers. No investment in new production lines. It rides on the old question "same taste or not?".

Bonus information. During the intense research for this post I found two additional related products. One seasonal variant, with the candy as sleighs. One evolution towards chocolate dipped cars.


Me? I like the candy. I like the attitude. But I will continue to buy the original, mixed, product. I guess I am a traditionalist.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not Swedish but my mother is and I used to spend every other summmer there in a little town called Vindeln. This was my favorite candy so it's fun to see it profiled here!

June 29, 2007 at 6:21 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

The marketing campaign could attract a lot of drivers because of its used symbol. Kids will always be kids and will like candy no matter what shape it has so... Good luck and I wish you many customers.
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Car Bumper Protector

December 1, 2009 at 2:13 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Im Swedish, and im eating "Bilar" right now!:P

July 14, 2012 at 5:55 PM  

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