By: Kirby G Mack (Vice President of Digital Media)
Historically, chicken wings were the less desirable, cheap alternative meal due to the lack of meat, chewy cartilage, and higher fat content. But in the 1960s that all changed.
In 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, co-owner Teressa Bellissimo decided to cook her leftover wings in a hot sauce as a late-night snack for her son and his friends. They were so well received by the guys that Teressa added them to her menu the next day. She decided to pair them up with celery slices and a side of bleu cheese sauce. And the legend was born.
Around 2015, thanks to their love connection to the Super Bowl, chicken wings were in HIGH demand. And at the same time, when there weren’t enough wings to meet that demand, the chicken industry had a surplus of boneless, skinless white meat. They had so much overflow that the price of boneless skinless white meat hit an all-time low.
Russ Whitman, a poultry analyst at business publisher Urner Barry said that the idea of the most profitable part of the chicken going for half as much as the wing “was kind of crazy.”
How does an industry solve this perplexing shift in its supply and demand? There is all this breast meat with little demand for it, thanks to the popularity of the chicken wing – which is a demand they can’t meet. So how do they sell off the overstock while maximizing profits? They make the overstock a wing and call it boneless!
Alright, dude, we get it. You like chicken wings (I REALLY DO), but what does this have to do with marketing for financial advisors? It’s simple really. In an industry that is overflowing with more of the same, sell it as something different.
It’s no secret that the boneless wing is not a wing, and as a matter of fact, it’s not meat from any wing at all. But that doesn’t stop us from consuming pounds of it daily. Just because you are all financial advisors, that doesn’t mean you can’t present yourself as something else, something different, something new.
I once had a conversation with legendary wrestling promoter, TV producer, and author of the book Controversy Creates Cash, Eric Bischoff. He said, “Kirby, you can be three things in business. Better than, less than, or different than. I chose different.”
Let’s take Allstate Insurance, for example. How does a boring product like insurance position itself as different? Well, aside from that dreamy Dean Winters, what is Allstate known for? Mayhem. The exact opposite of what you’d think they’d like to be associated with. But with the brilliance of the Mayhem campaign, Allstate sticks out way above the oversaturated market of insurance. Allstate is selling you mayhem, but you are buying their insurance.
Absolut Vodka. Ever heard of it? A once nameless, faceless brand found a way to become top shelf with their “Bottle” campaign. It ran nonstop for 25 years and racked up more than 1500 variations. It went from a nothing brand of only 10,000 cases sold in 1980 to over 4.4 million in US sales by 2000. How did they do it? Well, they didn’t sell you the vodka, they sold you the bottle. For 25 years, their bottles profile would be used to mimic everything from some of the most famous locations and people to normal everyday items. From New York’s Central Park, Bangkok, The Frame of Alfred Hitchcock to a lightbulb, a fried egg, and even a skin cell.
“We understand that we’re selling vodka; we’re not selling ads,” explained Richard Lewis, worldwide account representative for TBWAChiatDay, the advertising agency for V&S Vin & Sprit AB, which produces Absolut. “The hero is the bottle. The bottle is the star.” – Wharton University
Here’s a magic trick. I am going to ask you one question. And then I am going to read your mind. Got Milk?
You’re thinking of someone with a white milk mustache, aren’t you?
In 1993, the California Milk Processor Board was looking for a way to boost sales and move more product. Because I’m not sure if you are aware but milk expires… rather quickly. But how do you moooooove milk? Oh yeah, I went there.
Well, Matthew Daddona tells us that, a focus group asked respondents not to consume milk for a week prior to their case study. Most respondents found themselves anxious about being deprived of this household staple. “One man relayed his experience of coming downstairs to the kitchen in the morning before work, pouring out his cereal, slicing bananas on top of it, and then remembering his promise of abstinence. An ethical dilemma arose. Would he use milk and simply lie to the rest of the focus group? Or would he throw out the cereal? Worse yet, would he eat the cereal without milk?” (https://www.fastcompany.com/40556502/got-milk-how-the-iconic-campaign-came-to-be-25-years-ago)
And with that, a pop culture phenomenon was born. What the case study showed was that people had an emotional connection to milk. They weren’t just selling milk, they were selling you the emotion, the absence of milk. Michael Jordan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kermit The Frog and even the Simpsons would all go on to wear the iconic milk mustache.
My last example is probably my favorite. LEGO. Once one of the world’s most popular toys, LEGO found themselves near bankruptcy in 2000. And with the choice of toys only growing with the advancement of technology, the LEGO was no longer a toy. It was just a plastic brick that parents would curse when they stepped on it in the middle of the night. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, LEGO’s CEO and President, knew he had to do something, and he knew the LEGO had to be more than just another toy. It needed to tell a story. Thus, Bionicle was created and the licensing deals began.
Bionicle tied together by an elaborate original storyline that centered around biomechanical characters, such as the Toa, which are generally large, powerful beings that usually serve for good. The Bionicle universe was a hit and ran for 20 years, spawning comic books and even television shows.
Licensing deals were signed with juggernaut brands like Lucas Films (STARWARS), Harry Potter, Marvel, and DC. LEGO was no longer just another toy. Nor did LEGO market themselves as a toy. As a matter a fact they created different narratives and worlds and instead of showing you commercials of kids playing with their toys, they showed you the worlds you could play in. And you guessed it, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
So in a world overflowing with boneless, skinless, white meat, find ways to make yourself desirable. Become the boneless chicken wing. I guess what I’m saying is, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to remarket it.
