As I was making my sandwich this afternoon, I noticed the mayonnaise jar had a sticker on the lid that said “New, Easy-Open Lid.”  And sure enough, it delivered what it promised — the lid was easy to open.

But this is more interesting to me because of the chain of events that had to happen to get that sticker there in the first place.

  1. The Best Foods CEO says, “Mayonnaise sales are flat.  How can we increase market share?”
  2. With the consent of the management team, he allocates additional budget for market research to “ask the end-user.”
  3. The marketing department hires an outside market research firm to complete the project.
  4. The market research firm does phone surveys, blind taste tests, and mayonnaise focus groups.
  5. They come back with surprising results.  “You have plenty of brand-recognition, customers definitely think Best Foods when they think mayonnaise.  They like the taste, so don’t change your recipe.  But there were a number of customers who thought your jars were hard to open.”
  6. The Marketing Director says, “Seriously?”
  7. The market research firm says, “The numbers don’t lie, with a 3% margin of error.”
  8. The Marketing Director reports back to the CEO that they need to make the lids easier to open.
  9. The CEO says he got a screaming deal with the current lid supplier but had to sign a 5-year contract with the clause that they can’t make any changes to the lids.  He asks the Marketing Director to “work his magic” and make something happen.
  10. The Marketing Director orders a 6-month supply of stickers that say “New, Easy-Open Lid.”
  11. The mayonnaise bottling facility is instructed that no jar is allowed to leave the premises without said sticker.

Then, the customer buys the mayonnaise, sees the sticker, opens the jar, and thinks, “I guess that was pretty easy.”  Oh the power of suggestion.

Like I’m one to talk — I bought their mayo so apparently their strategy worked.

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