Businesses are continually looking for transformation – now more than ever. It’s interesting to see what Kraft/Mondolez have down with the Oreo. You know the Oreo, that biscuit that has been around for ever and sells in large quantities in the USA. It’s not all that healthy for you and it’s not that exciting or innovative either.
Well, Mondolez made it a whole lot smaller. Why did they do that, you ask? The world wants bigger, not smaller. Indeed, if you asked the customers what they wanted out of their next generation biscuit, it would be “bigger please”.
The Oreo Mini is an example of disruptive innovation – it’s not what the customer wants, but it creates a whole new market segment. Mondolez launched this product with a great marketing campaign around “the small things in life”.
Forbes reports a great interview with Janda Lukin, Vice President and brand leader for Oreos. He talks about the cultural shift that has been difficult in the organisation (and it is a huge company), but most importantly he says that change needs to happen from the top, as well as from the bottom.
Lukin: You’re absolutely right in that it’s a cultural shift. It has taken some time for us to get there. It starts from the top but it also starts from the bottom: You have to have people who are willing to push and take those risks. But at the same time you need the support from the top to go and do that.
It’s seeing our senior leaders enabling folks to go and make those kinds of choices and supporting them when things may not work out the way that they expect it and then rewarding them when things do go well. The people we’re bringing in, we’re encouraging them at very junior levels to take those risks and we’re creating a culture now that really values that. It has taken time but I definitely have seen a cultural shift in my tenure here.
The other important element that Mondolez is backing the Mini with a campaign that people can relate to.
Lukin: We think there is something special in the small things in the world. People think big gestures and big places have the biggest impact, but we know that small can have a pretty powerful impact as well. That’s where Mini Oreo came in. We’ve had this product that’s been out in the market for some time, but we thought it had huge potential. We wanted to give it its own moment in time to inspire people to see that there is specialness in the small things. So we built a program around Oreo Mini that started with a long-form video called Mel’s Mini Mini Mart.
We wanted to extend the story beyond the video into the social arena, so that people could send their friends and family members little Mini Oreo parcels that have customized messages inside, thanking them for the small things they do that are special. Mini Oreo cookies symbolize tokens of wonder and how special the world can be even with small things.
Watch the video. It’s well done and compelling.
