What can peach ice cream teach us about marketing?

Every summer, United Dairy Farmers (UDF), a Cincinnati, Ohio-based convenient store chain, proudly rolls out its Homemade Brand peach ice cream and its happy customers (my mother-in-law included) lap up the stuff a half-gallon at a time.

It’s actually pretty good. But here’s the thing: there’s a marketing lesson to be learned here, specifically about supply and demand.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a UDF commercial or some kind of case study and I don’t own any UDF stock. UDF only offers its peach ice creamin the summer because that’s when peaches are in season. But…

What if brands could create this kind of demand without having to worry about whether peaches are in season or not? Or cherries, or pumpkin. You realize I’m not talking about ice cream anymore, right?

These aren’t your marketing professor’s examples

This is typically where people would trot out the age-old iPhone example, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I would submit there are brands that could do this kind of supply-side marketing better (and Apple isn’t one of them).

There are a million examples of successful brands building anticipation by keeping supplies constrained. Hostess Twinkies, anyone? I don’t want to go there.

This is the opposite of a case study.

Who doesn’t do this well today, but could? As a group, laggard brands (that is, the opposite of innovative brands) may make up as much as 16% of all brands and, some would argue, are necessary in the marketplace. But laggard brands have to eventually evolve or die, right?

Here are some brands I believe have an opportunity to evolve and enhance demand by constraining supply:

·      JC Penney seems like an obvious choice here. They have the infrastructure and brand awareness, but seem to focus on the wrong things lately (like price). Could they disrupt by managing demand differently?

·      Couldn’t McDonald’s have some fun with something almost everyone loves — like their world famous french fries?

·      What about credit cards? AMEX has had success being a bit more exclusive, but no one seems willing to challenge them; opportunity for Capital One?

·      Best Buy is constantly being ‘showroomed’ by people who try products in the store, then buy online from someone else. Could they constrain access to the product in some way (perhaps charging a refundable trial fee)?

·      Denny’s grand slam breakfast is plentiful and relatively cheap. What if it were ever-so-slightly harder to get…say only certain days a week or a certain time of day?

·      Airlines. Ugh. Enough said.

·      H&R Block has struggled to keep up with user-friendly competitor TurboTax. Could Block somehow leverage its face-to-face advantage?

The point here is that there are many ways to promote a brand, but some of the less obvious ways — to zig when others are zagging — can be quite effective.

How can this help your brand?

What do you offer everyday that may be more attractive if you offered it a little less often? I mean, let’s not be jerks about it or anything, but a little demand creation, if you will, can be a good thing. Building some intrigue and mystique can be just what a brand needs, especially in low involvement or mature industries.

What can you do to differently to build anticipation for your brand?