Meat matters! That’s the message you’ll clearly come away with if you’ve been reading the business headlines lately.
Chain restaurant Taco Bell has come under fire after researchers discovered that the chain’s tacos contain very little in the way of actual beef. Consumer advocacy groups claim the actual percentage of beef involved is less than 35%. Taco Bell puts the number closer to 88%.
When the taco in question occupies a place of pride on a 99 cent value menu, one is forced to ask how much meat Taco Bell’s customers were really expecting?
On the other hand, it’s the expectation of meat that Alpo is counting on to revitalize its brand. The legacy brand hopes to recapture lost market share with its latest campaign, which touts itself as the voice of “real dogs.” Real dogs, it is clear, want meat. Lots of meat.
We’re guessing that Taco Bell will come through this latest PR crisis relatively unscathed. Alpo may very well recapture the “top dog” position in the pet food industry. The reason why has nothing to do with the meat (or lack thereof!) in question. It has everything to do with Brand Values.
Brand Values
Brand Values can be defined as those characteristics or qualities that your best customers say define your organization. These definitions are formed almost entirely by organizational behavior. Strong, positive Brand Values will attract customers who value those qualities. Zappos, for example, built their brand largely on the friendliness and integrity with which they provided their service.
Taco Bell’s best customers can be defined as that group of diners who eat at the restaurant frequently, who purchase many items while they’re there, and who encourage friends to join them on outings to the Bell. These customers are between the ages of 16 and 24, and value what the chain has termed abundant value. These are not diners who savor each bite of their dinner. One taco is not going to cut it. They want two, three, six, or a dozen tacos, preferably priced so that a few minutes searching under the couch cushions can pay for dinner. The amount or quality of the beef in Taco Bell offerings is not really of primary importance to their best customers. The chain might make improvements (or at a minimum, change their labeling) but based upon their knowledge of their best, and most profitable, customers, they can predict with a relatively high degree of certainty that in this case, the meat really doesn’t matter.
Alpo is in a different position. Drawing on their knowledge of their best customers, specifically their relationship with their dogs, Alpo has come to some startling conclusions. They’re embracing a position completely counter to the trend of increasingly complex lives of decorator collars, doggie daycares, and canine playdates. “It’s time for dogs to get back to the business of being dogs,” an ad proclaims.
The business of dogs, as Alpo sees it, has everything to do with eating meat. Is this an insightful analysis of a consumer base over-stretched and longing for simplicity or a clever way to accent one of Alpo’s Brand Values? For over 74 years Alpo has acquired a lengthy list of Brand Values: authenticity, substantial, meaty. Emphasizing these qualities will reinforce the relationship Alpo’s best customers have with the brand, and will attract more dog owners who share the same outlook on what’s best for their dog.
For Alpo, meat matters quite a bit. For Taco Bell, not so much. As long as organizations understand their Brand Values and act in a way that’s in alignment with those values, they’ll enjoy success no matter what’s on the menu!