As obvious as this may seem, most marketers don’t get it. For example, Butterball has invented a new use for turkey (and its brand) and has introduced fast-baking pot pies, now in your grocer’s freezer. The problem is that the audience for this very retro food isn’t necessarily in the market for a brand-new way to feed their family. What’s worse, Butterball is introducing the product with TV commercials running on the Food Channel. I’m trying hard to imagine Butterball’s target customer. The Food Channel viewer is busy watching a cooking show, and here’s an insipid, soft-focus commercial for a glorified TV dinner. How many viewers will even watch the commercial? Of those watching, how many will respond in the way Butterball hopes? Worse, how many will tell a friend about this great new meal? On the list of people who are baking a frozen comfort food for dinner, there are few risk-taking early adopters. And among those adopters, very few, it seems to me, are going to look to the Food Channel for the answer to their “What’s new?”
