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John Tantillo's Brand Winner... And Loser: P&G and The Selling of Health Care
Posted by The Marketing Doctor at 8/11/2009 9:08 AM 
Categories: Marketing
Tags: Un-American insurance companies big government soap opera health care reform Democrats health care sales promotions American people Target Market bill socialized health care marketing quaterly results health insurance Tantillo generics Republicans socialism branding Americans Independents
Categories: Marketing
Tags: Un-American insurance companies big government soap opera health care reform Democrats health care sales promotions American people Target Market bill socialized health care marketing quaterly results health insurance Tantillo generics Republicans socialism branding Americans Independents
Brand Winner… | And Loser |
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John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:
Winner: P&G
Loser: The Selling of Health Care
Folks, without further ado:
The Winner
In a short-term, quarterly results world, P&G is being painted as a loser after turning in lower-than-expected results.
But real marketing tells a different story.
P&G is a company with a long history of making lemonade out of lemons. Here’s a little retrospective piece I did a while back.
Bottom line: this is a company that has been around since the Civil War and has endured because it is dynamic.
During the Depression, P&G pioneered the soap opera as a means to reach their Target Market and at every turn, in good economic times and bad, they have used real marketing to grow.
They’ll do the same now. Sure, some people are switching to generic brands as The Wall Street Journal points out, but P&G has a long-term brand game plan for this contingency and almost every other.
In fact, what we’ll probably see over the next few months is a lot of price reductions to get customers back, two-for-one promotions, bonus packs that include extra product and other creative sales promotions that remind the consumer of the benefits of the respective brand.
What the needs-can-be-created crowd always seems to forget is that the consumer usually knows value and that often, generics simply aren’t as good as the branded product.
P&G is in the business of satisfying needs like nobody else out there. They’re continually listening to their customers and adapting to their needs.
Let’s face it, P&G wrote the book, and it’s a book they’re constantly updating with data gleaned from loyal and disloyal customers alike. Watch what they do closely. They’re simply the best. Fuggedaboutit!
The Loser
The folks trying to sell the American people on a health care plan are not listening to consumers.
You can look at the situation from a lot of angles, but an especially telling one is by a quick and dirty glance at the poll numbers.
By my back-of-the-envelope calculations: 76% of Democrats like the bill, 24% of Republicans like the bill and 35% of Independents like the bill. This translates to only 48% of voters who voted in the last election in favor of the bill with 52% opposed.
The poll numbers tell a real marketer what we already know: the health care plan is not being marketed; it is being force fed. The majority don’t want it.
The reason why the American people are reacting strongly against this bill is simple. They feel they haven’t had a chance to give their input and that the plan(s) on the table won’t actually meet their needs.
When the Clintons tried to sell health care reform in 1993, it was sunk, in part, thanks to the “Harry & Louise” ads. The ads reminded Americans that a) the plan was coming out of a big government mentality and b) they would likely lose freedom and quality of care.
Now the actors who played Harry and Louise are back in a big campaign to support health care reform. Sure enough, whereas the ads in 1993 actually spoke to the needs of the Target Market, these new ads don’t. Moreover, they have the same dire (almost syrupy) negative tone of the originals, which doesn’t make too much sense, given that this time they’re actually trying to sell something — you’ve got to wonder if they know anything about selling at all!
This in no surprise, because very little coming out of the White House or Capitol Hill has been about really learning what the people need or how Americans might be different than other “industrialized countries.”
Health care must appeal to logical self interest. And it has to do so in a positive way. You can’t guilt the American people into doing something. You have to show how it would benefit them. Remember, you can’t be the party of “No,” and you definitely can’t sell a “No” bill.
Bottom line: Anything that smacks of a socialized system is Un-American, and will fail to gain support in a country that is majority right of center. Unless the folks pushing health care reform listen to the voters and understand that, they’re going to have a big defeat on their hands.
And remember, it’s always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -
All real marketing starts with the needs of the consumer. What does your Target Market really want?
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