“Nothing stops a bullet like a job.” That’s the pithy and pointed tag line of Homeboy Industries, a LA-based organization determined to give gang members an alternative to life on the streets. Founded in 1992, Homeboy Industries has grown and evolved over the years. Now their most recent offerings, Homeboy Industries has entered the chips and salsa business.
Touted as a way to bring much needed revenue to the organization, there are several factors to indicate that the chips might just have a chance to make it big, even in the extremely competitive salty snack category.
What Do Your Brand Lovers Want Most?
Homeboy Industries has a powerful message: there’s an alternative to life on the streets. Reducing the number of people involved in gang activities and the associated violence on the streets is a message that resonates with the people who live and work in those neighborhoods. Homeboy Industries’ founder, Father Greg Boyle, has tapped into the deep, pervasive need his customers have to see meaningful change, and more importantly, to participate in that change themselves. This experience is incredibly important.
More than chips, more than salsa, more than bread or silkscreened shirts (some of the other business initiatives the group has participated in over the past two decades), Homeboy Industries’ customers want to make a difference.
Understanding what motivates a company’s best customers to bond with an organization is integral to its success. The more dimensional and personally relevant the reasons a consumer has to ally themselves with a given brand, the stronger and more enduring that bond will be.
Homeboy Industries is offering shoppers (currently in the Los Angeles area; the brand hopes to join forces with the 3,600+ store Kroger chain) the chance to help fix a problem that affects their lives. This is a powerful point of connection. Beyond the snack, consumers are purchasing engagement, involvement, and concrete, real world solutions to complex social problems. This is a tremendous emotional payoff.
How does that compare with the emotional payoff of breaking into a bag of Doritos or SunChips? It’s impossible to compare the brands on an apples-to-apples basis. Homeboy Industries doesn’t have the size or resources to compete on equal footing. Their presence in the 256 store chain Ralph’s is due in large part to the grocer’s willingness to waive slotting fees. $50,000 for shelf space can be an insurmountable barrier to entry.
But Homeboy Industries has a compelling story that speaks to a real need, not only in the marketplace, but in the world. Identifying those points of need and presenting a solution in a form that existing retailing outlets are equipped to handle was a smart strategic decision on Homeboy Industry’s part.
Socially aware marketing is not a new phenomenon. We’ve been bombarded with be-ribboned products in every category. Homeboy Industries stands apart in part due to their overt cause-and-effect approach to the problem of gang violence. “Jobs not Jails” is emblazoned on every marketing touch point, from signage and packaging through the group’s website. The relationship between behavior and result is immediate and clear. This is one of the strategies dominant organizations use to achieve a dominant market position.
Understanding what your best customers want most is essential. Homeboy Industries gets that. People want gang-free streets, and buying chips and salsa allows them to achieve it. Watch the bags fly off the shelves!