Why did Jell-O’s previous campaign fail?

Dibleen Grewal’s post on “Jell-O” drew my attention when I was reading through classmates’ blogs. Grewal put his own experience related to the product in the post, which I think is the major reason I choose to comment on. However, his arguments and analysis are reasonable and explicit as well. I agree with him that the company should focus more on the customer segment of family, and increase marketing campaign meanwhile for their future development.

Jell-O is currently experiencing a tumbling sale due to its wrong target market. Kraft Foods, which owns Jell-O, in order to solve this crisis, announced that it will change its recent “adult-targeted approach”¹ back to the previous “family-targeted approach“¹. Basically, I believe the failure to identify its customer segment contributed to the defectiveness of its business model. Especially the part of customer segment, which is the heart of the whole business canvas. It is the company’s duty to define which segments to serve and then implement proper campaign.

As a consequence, since Kraft Foods recognizes Jell-O’s most suitable customer segment, it needs to alter its marketing campaign fitting to the new target group. If the company successfully attracts their previous family-based customers back, as what Dibleen Grewal expects in his post, Jell-O will “get back to being a solid competitor in the snacks sector.”²

Endnotes:

1. E.J., S. (2013, August 12). Kraft Launches New Campaign to Revive Jell-O | News – Advertising Age. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-launches-campaign-revive-jell-o/243616/>

2. Dibleen, G. (2014, October 5). Dibleen Grewal’s Blog. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <https://blogs.ubc.ca/dibleengrewal/2014/10/05/jell-o-aims-to-make-comeback/>

Picture reference:  

Retrieved from <http://canigivemybaby.com/jell-o/>

Article Reference:

Dibleen, G. (2014, October 5). Dibleen Grewal’s Blog. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <https://blogs.ubc.ca/dibleengrewal/2014/10/05/jell-o-aims-to-make-comeback/>

E.J., S. (2013, August 12). Kraft Launches New Campaign to Revive Jell-O | News – Advertising Age. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from <http://adage.com/article/news/kraft-launches-campaign-revive-jell-o/243616/>

 

Read more:

Jell-O’s official website: <http://www.jello.com/>

Definition of “customer segment”: <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/customer-segmentation.html>