Change Your Outdated Marketing

Do me a favor click this link and go to Tostitos web site. I’ll give you a minute….

Let’s break down what we see: Dick Vitale, Pick ’em, Beat Dick’s Bracket, and a basketball arena.  Hmmmm, if I’m not mistaken the Tostitos web site smells a lot like March… But it’s July.

Well I guess it’s understandable, Tostitos is a small mom and pop product who doesn’t have many resources to devote to their brand.  WRONG!  Tostitos is a member of the Pepsi empire, a company who prides themselves on being branding innovators.  How can Pepsi let this site run live today?  When you click on the graphics it takes you to a “sorry, the contest has ended” page and thats it.  A dead end.  The end of the average surfers trip.

Lets look at how this branding is perceived by Gen Y.

Gen Y is the instant gratification generation.  We are more educated and informed than any other Generation before us.  When we have questions, we want them answered.  We dig deep in everything.  So how do you think Gen Y will perceive this?

Tostitos’s web presence is diluting their brand, making them seem weaker and outdated to Gen Y.  Granted, the Tositos web site won’t drive people directly to purchase, but it plays a roll in the awareness and interest stages of the adoption hierarchy.  When walking down the always overcrowded chip isle, Gen Yers could have a less than favorable opinion of Tostitos in their sub-conscience, causing them not to purchase the product.

Pepsi, we all also noticed your rebranding at the beginning of this year.  The jury is still out on how effective it has been.  But I say, instead of spending the large amounts of money on rebranding their products, why not strengthen the current ones?  Or at least update their basic web sites.

I do wonder why this has gone unchanged.  Did everyone at Pepsi forget about the Tostitos site?  Do they not care?  Are they emotionally attached to Dick Vitale?  Do they not have any other ideas for a page?  Whatever it is, it’s unacceptable.  Shape up Pepsi.

Granted Tostitos’ main marketing efforts are in the first quarter of the year (January with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and March with the NCAA Tourniment) but, Totsitos still has plenty of marketing opportunities with their chips.  Independence day is this weekend, patriotism will be at a yearly high.  Summer also just started; nothing says summer like Tostitos and dip.  How about bugs using Tostitos to surf?  The possibilities are endless.  Tostitos just needs to do something.

Tostitos, your brand is starting to crumble, update your marketing…