Does this picture make you hungry?
If you answer yes, it’s a good sign that Duncan Hines is on the right track. According to this NY Times article, Duncan Hines, who has long occupied second place in the cake mix industry, is revamping its marketing message.
No longer is Duncan Hines focusing its marketing message on the industry’s traditional audience—stay-at-home mothers with one or more children to cater to. Gone are the days when the cakes are showcased to appeal to people who still sign their name in crayon. Instead, the new campaign is geared to reach a psychographic target of people who love to bake—including men who love to bake and young singles who love to bake. In other words, Duncan Hines desserts are all grown up.
Why is Duncan Hines Changing its Strategy?
Occupying the #2 position in the cake mix industry is a lucrative place to be. The company controls nearly a third of a $382 million dollar market. This shift reveals to us that Duncan Hines’ leadership believes that there is a place where they can enjoy greater profitability and increased revenue. This belief is strong enough that the company is making the first major marketing message shift in decades.
Their new approach seems rooted in the tenets of Brand Modeling, which tell us that the point of ultimate success for any brand lies in identifying who loves your products and services the most. These customers, the Brand Lovers, buy from you more frequently and in greater quantity, recommend your products enthusiastically, and contribute more to your organization’s bottom line than any other portion of your customer base.
Focusing your company’s efforts on serving the needs of these customers as completely as possible is the sure route to success and marketplace dominance.
It’s vital for an organization to have as in-depth and complete an understanding of who their Brand Lovers are as possible. Duncan Hines articulates their vision of their ideal customer pretty well: they’re food enthusiasts, who watch Food Network, and scour cooking magazines for both inspiration and instruction, rather than “serious bakers” who would turn up their nose at using a cake mix in the first place.
More importantly, the understanding is there that the psychological motivators influencing their customer’s purchasing decisions is not the same as it is for the traditional cake mix market. The baker who creates Mexican chocolate cupcakes seasoned with just the right hint of cayenne pepper is not the same customer as the baker who needs a pink cake with pink frosting for a three-year-old’s birthday party. The goals are different, and more importantly, the customer expectations are different.
A Change in Consumer Needs Requires a Change in Brand Strategy
In some ways, this gives Duncan Hines a measure of freedom and latitude that their competitors just don’t have. Delving into the history of cake-mix development reveals to us that the entire industry was born out of a desire to save time for the homemaker. The directions for any cake mix were kept intentionally simple; seldom did you have to do more than add eggs, oil, and water to the mix.
Duncan Hines is betting that their customers are craving a greater degree of difficulty, and don’t place such a premium on saving time. The needs that drove millions of women to buy cake mix rather than baking from scratch simply aren’t their needs. Instead, their customers are seeking a way to produce impressive desserts relatively easily. Their customers are willing to invest more time, but they want an end result that rewards the commitment.
Will it work out for Duncan Hines? The new campaign is set to roll out a few days ago, and we’ll be watching to see if there’s any change in Duncan Hines’ market share. If it works—and we’d hazard that it might—then Duncan Hines’ leadership will be able to savor the sweetest treat of all: success!