Always looking for that new taste sensation – i.e. decent nibbles, I picked up a large bag of Seabrook’s wasabi japanese horseradish potato crisps at the weekend. Their strapline promises ‘a right proper gobful’ and in the case of this particular packet ‘Phew! They’re a right hot gobful.’ This raised a wry smile and they were committed to the trolley. Only when I got home did I realise they’d cost £1.26 – I didn’t check at point of purchase, was simply swayed by the packaging, flavour option and the strapline. So my expectations went up yet another notch – i.e. from mouth watering, to these must be something special.  Sadly the taste experience was not up to a ‘right proper gobful’, neither were they ‘a right hot gobful.’ Which got me thinking, ‘Are Seabrook living up to their brand promise?’ Arguably from my humble, crisp appreciation perspective, they’re not – at least not with this particular flavour. Their brand goes back to 1945 – that says to me, here’s a company that’s proud of its heritage and has played it’s part in the development of the great British crisp. They’re also a brand that says to me ‘we’re not afraid to try new things,’ to diversify and keep up with customer taste demands (not to mention their competitors). In branding terms, reputation is everything.  But if your brand isn’t living up to its promise, then the reputation you’ve built up, whether its one year, 20 years (or in Seabrook’s  case 64 years), will be questioned by your customers – who as a result,  may then look for alternatives. The morale of this story? If you’re making a brand promise, make sure you can and do live up to it. NB. Seabrook’s quirky website invites official tasters – maybe I’ll apply? www.seabrookcrisps.com

Tags: brand integrity, brand promise, branding

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 11:59 AM and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.