New Apples, Bodegas, and KFC bucket caps – Sales Lead Digest

This week we’re on a food kick again, a leftover from the last note we sent. The long read article is about the launch of a new apple, the replacement for the Honey Crisp. I just finished reading a book on “Big Ag” and this helps put the big ideas into a real event. I’m not an apple guy, but I’ll watch this one. There’s a great article on the benefits of wandering through local groceries when traveling, an article on a wearable/usable KFC bucket hat and remembering the Tortillapocolypse. Great stuff.

This weeks sales and marketing news:

The Launch

“The Cosmic Crisp is debuting on grocery stores after this fall’s harvest, and in the nervous lead-up to the launch, everyone from nursery operators to marketers wanted me to understand the crazy scope of the thing: the scale of the plantings, the speed with which mountains of commercially untested fruit would be arriving on the market, the size of the capital risk. People kept saying things like “unprecedented,” “on steroids,” “off the friggin’ charts,” and “the largest launch of a single produce item in American history.” ”
This is our lead read for you this week because it’s so great. An outsider’s view of a truly amazing product launch. One man’s mission to upend and challenge a successful food product, the Honey Crisp, with a new and improved version. Big business people will find it inspiring and boutique people will find it depressing. Great read.  READ MORE

The Best Way to Tour a City Is Through Its Grocery Store

“…The secret museum in every city is a grocery store. It’s where you can grab and squeeze and not-at-all-weirdly smell indigenous produce. The fishmonger runs an aquarium. The butcher is a zookeeper. But groceries also hoard the culture’s guilty pleasures…”
This article reminds me of the importance of marketers getting out of the building and into their customer’s worlds. The insights you get from listening to a sales rep work through a presentation while you sit and listen does more for engaging copy than anything else we’ve tried. It’s a luxury to have the time to do this, but like traveling to a new place to walk the local’s grocery aisles, the rewards are innumerable.  READ MORE

Yes, KFC now has bucket caps that can double as chicken containers

“The hat comes with a wide brim that could either be for blocking the sun or making sure all your legs, thighs, breasts and wings all stay in one place. Colonel Sanders also pops up as an embroidered logo on the front, appearing upside-down to really ring in the notion that this bucket hat could really double as a bucket of chicken as well.”
KFC loves to run a few made for PR stunts, don’t they? When we were in China, KFC was as edgy and on trend as any of the fashion brands but here in the US it’s still, meh. When I see stunts like this I’m reminded of Gretzky’s “I miss 100% of the shots I don’t take” quote and next week I’m going to spend a few minutes noodling on a newsworthy event for LGC. Right now I can only see LGC bucket hats. READ MORE

Things I missed this summer: The Tortillapocalypse

“‘…our impacted restaurants should be offering our full menu so fans can now enjoy their Taco Bell favorites from the classic Bean Burrito to the new Steak Reaper Ranch Fries burrito.’
Prior to this, the company was going through what many on the internet were calling the ‘tortillapocalypse.’
More than a few times in my life I see news like this and think, “how did I miss it?” Coupled with the KFC story, I am rethinking my attempt at coming up with a fun newsworthy event. Instead, I think we should talk about the thing that happened but no one knew about. Like how LGC overcame the “leadgenalypse” scare of winter 2019. It was tough, but we made it. READ MORE

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