Brand hops on Trump’s anti-Mexico bandwagon
As widely reported earlier this summer, companies including NBC, Macy’s and others ran as fast and far away as possible from their business associations with Donald Trump after he made comments depicting illegal immigrants to the U.S. as being largely made up of individuals the Mexican government did not want on its soil, including drug dealers, murderers and rapists. In a bit of a marketing surprise, there is one company, Leaf Brands, which has come out in support of Mr. Trump’s call for a boycott of Mondolez International after the company moved 600 jobs related to manufacturing Oreos from a facility in Chicago to another in Salinas, south of the border.
Leaf Brands, for those not familiar, is relaunching Hydrox after the cookie brand was off the market for seven years. Hydrox, while billed as the first American sandwich cookie, has failed over the years under various owners to compete with Oreos.
Leaf Brands CEO Ellia Kassoff extended an invitation for Mr. Trump to visit the company’s plant outside of Los Angeles where it will manufacture Hydrox.
Image: Leaf Brands
"We want consumers to know ‘The original sandwich cookie’ will always be made in the U.S. and Mr. Trump’s campaign focuses on growing American jobs so we decided to invite him to our plant," said Mr. Kassoff in a statement. "We are in no way picking candidates or jumping into politics but we want to showcase how a company can create a high-quality product at a good price, without moving operations out of the U.S."
Mr. Kassoff said the relaunch of Hydrox will mark a return to the cookie’s original recipe.
"You will notice the ‘Other Guys’ use high fructose corn syrup and other low quality ingredients because they’re all about increasing margins, even if that means moving to Mexico," said Mr. Kassoff. "We think it’s more important to sell an American-made product that only uses the best ingredients. That’s why we rolled back the formula to a recipe which doesn’t include any hydrogenated oils or HFCS which were added to the cookie when Kellogg’s and Keebler owned it."
Amazon.com is the first retailer to work with Leaf Brands on the relaunch of Hydrox. According to Mr. Kassoff, a list of national and regional grocery chains are also anxious to stock the brand.
"The hardest part of bringing back such a well-known brand is managing the initial run on product and keeping up with production," said Cody Sheean, VP of marketing and international sales for Leaf Brands. "We call it, ‘The Twinkie Effect,’ relating to the huge rush of consumers buying Twinkies after they were brought back a few years ago."
- Hydrox Cookies Re-launch Kicks-off Today; Donald Trump Invited After Boycotting Oreo – Leaf Brands, LLC/PRNewswire
- "Oreo-Buster" Hydrox Woos With Real Sugar — and Donald Trump – brandchannel
- Relaunching Hydrox Cozies Up To Mondelez-Bashing Trump – MediaPost’s Marketing Daily
- Donald Trump blasts Nabisco for moving Oreos to Mexico: ‘I’ll never eat them again’ – The Washington Times
- Macy’s Dumps Donald Trump – CNN
Discussion Questions
Is Leaf Brands making the right move from a consumer marketing standpoint by associating the manufacture of Hydrox cookies with the political views of Donald Trump? As a retailer, would Leaf Brands’ publicity ploy make you more or less likely to authorize Hydrox for sale in your stores?
Poll
BrainTrust
Zel Bianco
President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge
Mohamed Amer, PhD
Independent Board Member, Investor and Startup Advisor
It might have been a misstep to bring Trump into this conversation — but publicizing the release of a cookie made in the U.S. using “the best ingredients” (whatever that means!) is a strong move that I wouldn’t define as anti-Mexico. I don’t think many American’s are clamoring for more out-sourcing of jobs — no matter what their politics.
Inviting Trump to the factory may have gotten Leaf Brands more publicity, but they will be lost in the shadow of Trump and “anti-Mexico” headlines, which will only hurt the brand.
Here is my story: great ingredients (very good), made in the U.S.A. (very good). Why would you want to cloud that with the association to Trump? It might be a short-term gain in publicity, but unless there is a good product with great execution (you are up against Oreo) it doesn’t matter. The risk is the halo that may cloud the brand. Despite denials that they are not endorsing Trump, the association with the Trump comments is undeniable.
Certainly, the share of anti-immigrant feelings in the U.S. is larger than the share they could every dream of versus Oreo. Net-net in the short-term … brilliant and despicable.
This is about raising awareness for your brand by all available means. There is a definite move to healthier ingredients and a trusted manufacturing source.
It’s difficult to associate with selected aspects of a political candidate, people tend to think more holistically. This isn’t good or bad and Leaf Brands appears to have weighed the pros and cons and went ahead with this association. I don’t think there will be a backlash.
Personally, I actually have more of an issue with the name “Hydrox,” it sounds like a shortened chemical name and does not engender natural ingredients.
Think about where Hydrox is coming from (ground zero in effect — save their residual brand value, which has no doubt been eroded by the way the brand was handled by both Nabisco and Keebler.)
Now think about how many genuine Trump supporters there are presently (“presently” being the operative word here.) Let’s put it at the RCP poll average of about 20 percent of all Americans.
Now think about what one point (1 percent) of U.S. household trial would mean for a newly reintroduced brand. (Hint, it is expensive to get!) If the association with Trump loyalists gets them to even the 1 percent household penetration level it would be huge for Leaf. Much higher than they could probably ever buy with traditional marketing tactics. And once these folks find out the cookie is good the residual volume will last long after the Summer of the Donald is long passed.
Agree with the politics? Hardly. Agree with the business move? It may not work, but I think it was a pretty high percentage play for a brand with little to nothing to lose.
Politics aside, Hydrox is an underdog brand. This updated, more assertive, positioning would suggest that it is now a challenger brand.
Not sure where the issue of illegal immigration sits in the U.S. My hunch is it’s widely held by older, white men. They are not really the cookie buyer in growing middle-American families.
The Hispanic population is on the rise. Not sure about their U.S. cookie consumption. Doubt I’d want to ensure my brand is NOT on their shopping list.
Where my store is located, who is shopping and if they are vocal would determine if any item was in my store or on an end-cap.
Good luck Hydrox — maybe a cross promotion with butterscotch hard candy would work.
Making the cookies in the U.S. and only using the best ingredients are great stories for a marketer. But that will not sell cookies. There is no pizzazz in it. Bringing Mr. Trump in the picture gives them instant and free advertising they could not get anywhere without digging deep into their pockets. Smart move? We shall see.
What I find interesting is the following: The first poster (Mr. Livingston) dismisses “the story” behind the move. The next posters then describe how “the story” will either harm or hurt the brand. My take is that there are few things more important than the story and how the shopper/consumer views it. Whether this is a “good story” or a “bad story” remains to be seen (and the opinions offered, while differing, are interesting). However, in the pursuit of time and interest and PURCHASES, there should not be a dismissal of “the story.” The name of the product, the ingredients, the alignment with political candidates, the “patriotism” angle, etc. — those are all components of stories. It is now up to the company and the shoppers to fill in the narrative’s interpretation.
The new Hydrox management seeks to capitalize on the brand’s heritage, higher quality ingredients than its major competitor, and the “Made in the USA” theme, which is a hot button again. Inviting Trump to their factory will get them some free PR and if he actually shows up it will get them way more attention than they could possibly get otherwise. For what is essentially a startup company at this point, it seems like it’s worth the downside.
I agree with Gene…at least up until his last three words: despicable is never brilliant, in any time frame.
Leaf can make the cookies, but will retailers give them the shelf space and consumers buy them? If you assume that the Trump connection is fleeting at best, then I predict that this cookie will soon crumble. (Couldn’t resist – sorry all!)
Politicians go to places for photo ops that make a point, and manufacturers/businesses love being the background for photo ops and free PR to make a point. It’s what they do. Preserving and creating American jobs is a huge concern to a large swath of the population of this country. Did we ever have this same discussion about presidential politicians visiting the factory floor of Ford’s Michigan assembly plant or posing at solar fabricators like Solyndra? I don’t recall that we did.
What a clever way to create awareness for a brand that had zero brand awareness and nothing to lose. I’ve now seen Hydrox cookies on the Late Show, in the news, and here. Even if the only people that buy them are Donald Trump fans, it will still be a huge bump in sales volume.
As a retailer, you stock what sells. My guess is that these things will sell as a novelty/joke … and if they’re any good, they might create repurchase.
From a pure business perspective, it seems like a bet on short-term gain at the expense of long-term pain. If the owners are looking to flip or sell the brand in the near future, I can understand though not necessarily agree with their ploy.
On a separate note, I agree with Mohamed: the name “Hydrox” sounds chemical, and thus ironically completely off-brand with their positioning of using the “best” ingredients.