I love Andy Sernovitz’s blog, Damn! I Wish I’d Thought of That!, and I found another great post over there today about the rebranding of prunes.
Unbeknownst to me, in June 2000, the Food and Drug Administration granted the California Prune Board the permission to use the term “dried plumb” instead of “prune” to entice more people to eat the fruit with the negative consumer perception. It seems that 90% of people would be more likely to eat a food called “dried plumbs” than “prunes.” I have to agree with the majority on this one.
However, the aversion to the term “prune” may be restricted to the United States. According to the California Dried Plumb website, “Research conducted in the U.S. showed that our target audience, women ages 25 to 54, responded more favorably to the name dried plums. It is also more descriptive for people who don’t know that prunes are fresh plums that have been dried. Outside the U.S., the product is still called prunes.” Very interesting.
This example clearly demonstrates the importance of choosing a brand name that not only communicates your image and message correctly in a way consumers understand but also appeals to consumers.
I like Andy’s blog — had not heard of it but I cruised through and it’s pretty keen. Also, I had no clue prunes were dried plums (that seems like something I’d know). I suppose I thought prunes were dried prunes? Which makes no sense I know because you never see non-dried prunes at the store and yet… I doubt I’d eat them now though; even with the name change. They always seem too sweet to me.
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[...] are classic approaches used by consumer products companies for decades to attract new customers—prunes became dried plums and the market [...]
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