3. 3
Research
Secondary Research
The Product
Oreos were first created in 1912. Oreo has many variations of cookies and
continually introduces new products. There have been over 50 different varieties of the
cookie, with different flavors, shapes, and sizes they satisfy hunger with a wide range of
flavors and are convenient to carry (Veiga, 2011). Oreo has strong customer
relationships with the brand image that “Oreo evokes happiness” (Veiga, 2011).
Consumers identify with Oreo as being friendly and funny. A test has been done which
shows Oreos activate more neurons in the brain’s pleasure center than drugs such as
cocaine and morphine (O’Carroll, 2013). Oreos can be addictive which makes it hard to
eat only one.
The Marketplace
Ever since the introduction of Oreos, they have been the best-selling cooking in
the U.S. Oreo is part of the high-demand snacking market with Americans consuming
1,559 snacks per year. It continues to be the best-selling cookie in the world, with
global sales more than triple the next selling cookie (Narula, 2015). Oreo sales
increase every year, regardless of being over 100 years old. Although the cookie holds
a strong position in this market, healthy foods are becoming a bigger trend and a strong
competitor.
4. 4
Primary Research
For my primary research I wanted to learn more opinions about Oreo. I
interviewed about 20 people about Oreos. I wanted to know what people’s favorite
flavors were as well as how they ate the cookie. The two most popular Oreo flavors
were original and “Double Stuf”. For the unique flavor, mint was the most liked. The
most common ways to eat an Oreo was in milk, in bites, and whole. Most of the people
who said they ate the cookie whole were males, while the biters tended to be females. I
not only wanted to get an idea of how people ate Oreos, but also what they thought
about the cookie. The three most common words thought of when someone hears
Oreo is chocolate, cream, and milk. Besides obvious words associated with Oreo
people also said delicious, addictive, comforting, happiness, and sweet. I also wanted to
get a good idea of what personality Oreo had, so I asked the participants what Oreo
would be like if it was a person. My research showed that Oreo is the popular, outgoing
class clown that is reliable, honest, and sweet. Also, after talking to people about Oreos
many people said they now wanted one. This research really gave me a better idea of
how people use and view Oreos.
5. 5
References
Applebaum, M. (2004). Licker Or Biter? Of Cookies, That Is. Brandweek, 45(9), 34.
Milks favourite cookie: Segmentation, targeting, positioning (2014, September 21).
In Word Press. Retrieved October 14, 2015, from
https://milksfavouritecookie.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/segmentation-targeting-
positioning/
Narula, S. K. (2015, February 13). The incredible staying power of the Oreo cookie.
In Quartz. Retrieved from http://qz.com/342782/the-incredible-staying-power-of-
the-oreo-cookie/
O'Carroll, E. (2013, October 16). Oreos addictive? Rats treat Oreos like cocaine, study
suggests. Christian Science Monitor. p. N.PAG.
Oreos (n.d.). In Americas Greatest Brands. Retrieved October 14, 2015, from
http://www.americasgreatestbrands.com/volume6/pdf/Oreos.pdf
Oreo 2015 fact sheet (n.d.). In Mondelez International. Retrieved October 14, 2015,
from
http://www.mondelezinternational.com/~/media/MondelezCorporate/Uploads/dow
nloads/Oreo_Fact_Sheet_2015.pdf
Sacks, D. (2014, October 23). The story of Oreo: How an old cookie became a modern
marketing personality. In Fast Company Create. Retrieved October 14, 2015,
from http://www.fastcocreate.com/3037068/the-story-of-oreo-how-an-old-cookie-
became-a-modern-marketing-personality
Veiga, M. (2011, June 15). Oreo analysis. In Slide Share. Retrieved October 14, 2015,
from http://www.slideshare.net/mau_veiga/oreo-analysis
6. 6
Target Audience
Oreo has a wide range of consumers. The primary target audience is kids 6-13
with kids being the biggest consumers. These kids are dreamers and love exciting
things, therefore this age range will receive the most attention from Oreo.
Secondary target audiences include 14-24 year olds and 24-39 year olds. The
14-24 age range are students who also have a high consumption of Oreos. The 24-39
age range are the parents of the 6-13 year olds. They are the ones who will be buying
the Oreos for the kids which means the advertising directed at the kids has to resonate
with the parents as well. Oreos average consumers are middle income status.
Consumer Profile: Oreo
Today’s fun loving kid, Timmy, is an 8 year old third grader at his
suburban cities public school. Timmy lives with him mom, dad, and little sister and their
golden retriever puppy. They live in a three bed-room double story house in the suburbs
of Chicago. His favorite subject in school is science. Timmy’s mom is a stay at home
mom taking care of the house, while his dad works as a business man in the city.
Timmy brings his lunch to school almost every day. He always looks forward to the
dessert at the bottom of his lunch, Oreos. He shares his double pack with his best
friend Bobby. Bobby always gets a carton of milk to share and dip the Oreos in.
Sometimes Timmy will give Lewis the cookie after he eats the cream. Sharing the Oreos
has helped Timmy to make more friends, especially when he brings them for his
birthday for the whole class.
7. 7
Timmy loves playing on his baseball team in the spring and hockey in the
winter. He tries to be outside as much as he can. He takes the puppy for walks and
goes on bike rides with friends around the neighborhood during the summer. When the
weather is bad outside he watches Nickelodeon and Disney channel. Pixar movies and
Pokémon video games are his indoor activities. When Timmy is older, he hopes to be
an astronaut. He dreams of being the first man to walk on Mars.
8. 8
Creative Brief
The Product Oreo, world's favorite cookie
Key Insight Oreos are addictive. People can rely on them for comfort.
Advertising Problem Want to stay as the leading brand in the market.
Advertising Objective The objective is to keep Oreo at the top of mind awareness.
Key Consumer
Benefits
Oreos can be shared to help build stronger relationships.
Primary Competitors
Keebler- Strengths: Branding, mascot, and customers’
perceptions are good. Weakness: Lack of innovation and
advancing in commodity costs.
Chip Ahoy! - Strengths: High profitability and revenue. Weakness:
Small business units and cost structure.
Current Position
To every person that feels happy, enjoys life and wants to have
or share a unique taste, Oreo is the answer to enhance your
experiences.
Optimal Position
To fun-loving outgoing people, Oreos enrich life and bond
relationships because it is the friendly cookie that sparks
imagination.
The One Thing Oreo binds relationships.
Support People are able to share something they love with each other.
Brand Promise To continue to be the world's favorite cookie.
Brand Image Oreo is friendly and outgoing. It is goofy, creative, and happy.
Big Idea Oreos are the shareable cookie.
Tone of Message Happy inviting, showing the love, while being bubbly and excited.
Voice
The inner kid inside everyone who is excited about life and wants
the world to be their friend.
9. 9
IMC Plan
Print
The print ads are targeted toward the 24-39 age range. These are the parents of
the primary target audience. The ads promote the idea that Oreos enrich relationships
when they are shared with others. By directing the ads towards the parents, they will
want to buy them for their kids and themselves. All the ads use the Oreo blue and
include the logo and website for recognition and action.
The “Family Night” ad shows a whole family working together to make a cake
tower of Oreos. The headline “Make any night family cake night,” shows that fun family
activities can be done any night of the week and Oreos are there to help. The body copy
encourages the family to buy Oreos and create something together.
The “New Class” ad shows a bunch of kids eating and enjoying Oreos together.
The headline “New Class. Share Oreos. New Friends,” shows how Oreos help bring
kids closer together. They are all excited in the picture and uniting over the Oreos. The
body copy explains that parents can be a part of helping their kid have a good first day
by buying them Oreos.
Oreo’s are America’s and the world’s best-selling and favorite cookie. The “Say
Yes” ad has an Oreo with a ring on it. It brings together the idea of Oreos being the best
and the best parts of marriage with the headline “Say Yes to sharing the best.” The
subheading touching on Oreos helping to enrich the relationship.
10. 10
TV/ Video
Oreo: New Neighbor
The Oreo commercial starts out with a view of two houses, one is for sale. New
neighbors pull into the house for sale and start unloading the car. Michael (a young boy
about 8 years old) looks out the window excited to see he has new neighbors. Emma (a
young girl about 8 years old) is sad she is moving here because she doesn’t have any
friends but her mom tells her she will meet some. Michael climbs on a stool and gets a
box of Oreos out of the top shelf in the pantry. His mom walks into the kitchen and see
the stool and pantry door open and a trail of Oreo crumbs leading out the front door.
Michael walks over to the neighbors while snacking on the cookies. His mom follows
the trail outside and see Michael at the neighbor’s door. Emma answers the door.
Michael introduces himself and Emma introduces herself back. Michael then tells
Emma he brought her an Oreo, the last one left in the box. Emma smiles and happily
takes the Oreo. Then Michael’s family and Emma’s family all get to know each other in
the family room where they are laughing and eating Oreos.
My big idea is that Oreos bring people together and help to enrich life. This story
shows how Oreos help new neighbors become new friends. In the beginning of the
story Emma is sad because she doesn’t know anyone. She then meets Michael and
isn’t so upset about living in this new place. I chose two young kids because Oreo’s
main target audience is children. Having the parents in the video also helps to appeal
to the parents of kids who will then buy the Oreos. The ad shows people eating and
enjoying Oreos while telling a story about the characters. Oreos are the “hero” in the
story because they are what help Michael meet Emma. The sound track is happy
11. 11
sounding music to set the mood of the ad as cheerful and fun. There are also sounds
coming from the movement in the commercial such as the car driving and parking, the
stool sliding across the floor, the pantry door swinging open, and the doorbell. The
commercial is supposed to be seen as sweet with some funny aspects coming from
Michael as he climbs to get the Oreos and then eats almost the whole box.
Non-Traditional
Oreo: Cookie Crumbs
For Oreo, my idea of a non-traditional ad will take place in breakrooms, schools,
and other places someone would find a vending machine. There will be rubber cookie
crumbs stuck on the floor leading to the vending machine. There will be an Oreo cookie
top in the beginning of the trail to reinforce what the crumbs are. They are rubber so
that way if people don’t notice them right away, they will feel them when they step on
them. The book talks about taking advantage of the placement and to get people when
and where they are most susceptible. During breaks is a time when consumers are
likely to eat a snack. When people go in the breakroom to eat and see the crumb trail
they will be more inclined to buy some Oreos. When they buy a pack of Oreos from the
vending machine, two packs will come out. One will say “For me” and the other will say
“For you” to encourage the customer to share their Oreos with their co-workers, friends,
and family. The vending will have a sticker that says “For me. For you.” with the Oreo
logo. This goes along with the big idea that Oreos enrich relationships by promoting
sharing Oreos. Also, on the Oreo app there will be a map option that shows trails of
Oreo crumbs leading to the vending machines by the user, however the consumer will
12. 12
not know where the trail crumbs are leading to unless they hear through word of mouth
or have followed a trail already. This creates a teaser to get consumers more involved
and interested. Trail crumbed maps will also be posted on social media to reach a
wider range of consumers.
Interactive
Create Your Dream Oreo
In Austin, Texas at the South by Southwest festival Oreo revealed a vending
machine that uses 3D printing to allow consumers to customize their own Oreo. There
was a choice of 12 flavors that could be picked from the machine and they could use
these flavors to make a cool design on the cookie. I love this idea and I want to allow
consumers all over the world to be able to participate in creating their own Oreo.
Oreo’s new interactive Oreo maker will be an online game so anyone can use it.
Consumers will be able to pick from all the flavors ever used by Oreo. The user will be
able to grab a tube of their cream of choice and when they hold the mouse down the
cream will come out onto the cookie in the design they choose to draw. They will be
able to use as many different flavors as they like and as much cream as they want.
After the participant is finished designing their cookie cream they will then be given a
choice of what their cookie looks like. The different cookie tops will come from Oreos
that have already been created, such as Halloween, Christmas, football, etc. There will
also be new cookie tops with different symbols and sayings: heart, star, I love you,
Congrats, Feel Better, BFF etc. The cookie tops will have sayings on them because
13. 13
after the participant has finished customizing their cookie they will be able to send an
image of the Oreo to friends, family, or whoever they would like.
This will help promote the interactive cookie customizer as well as help grow
connections between people. It is fun for all ages, from kids to adults, anyone can be
creative. Parents can print out the design their kids make and hang them on the fridge.
Or couples can keep the image with their keepsakes. Oreo can use the designs
customers have created in ads to promote the interactive Oreo maker. This will be
beneficial to Oreo to help promote new flavors. When I conducted primary research
asking GVSU students about Oreos many of them had no idea how many flavors Oreo
has made. Oreo’s advertising focuses on the original and double stuffed. This
interactive tool provides a fun and creative way for costumers to get involved and to
learn about the different flavors.
Copy to go along with this tool needs to get the point across that it’s
customizable and it can be shared with other people. “Create your dream Oreo.” “Send
more than words.” “Make your favorite Oreo. Show your favorite person.” “It’s more than
a cookie.” “Dream Oreo.” “Create. Share. Oreo.” “Customize. Show. Oreo.”
Radio
The “First Day of School” radio ad stars Joseph and Sean, two 4th
grade boys.
Joseph is very friendly and excited. Sean is shy but warms up the more he talks to
Joseph. The commercial starts off with the Oreo music playing to allow listeners to
know what the commercial is for right away. The sound effects of the bell ringing and
kids voices give the listener a place to imagine, a school. The silverware helps to show
14. 14
where in a school, the cafeteria. This sets up the background of the conversation. The
boys will have distant voices along with personality, so the listener can tell who is
talking. They introduce themselves in the beginning to help the listener learn the
character. The dialogue is conversational to represent an actual conversation 4th
graders might have: trading sandwiches, comparing lunch, invitation to play games. The
sound effects throughout the commercial help to establish what is happening, such as
the rustling of the bag and crunch of the Oreos. The commercial ends with the Oreo
jingle to reinforce the brand and unit it to the campaign.
This commercial will be played on radio stations, such as Disney Channel, in the
morning right before school and in the afternoon right after school. It is directed at kids
and their parents. The young voices of the kids will interest the listeners and the
mention of the mom packing the Oreos will interest parents. It shows how the boy has a
good connection with his mom, and that other parents can help make the connection
stronger with Oreos. It also shows that Oreos help kids become friends by sharing
something they both love.
22. 22
Radio: First Day of School
Client: Oreo
Project: Radio
Title: “First Day of School”
Length: :60
SFX: Wonder if I gave an Oreo music starts playing.
School bell rings and kids voices grow louder.
Clinking of silverware to give off the impression of a cafeteria.
Joseph (excited young boy): Hi! I’m Joseph!
Sean (shy young boy): I’m Sean.
Joseph: Can I sit with you?
Sean: Yeah.
SFX: Rustling of a paper bag.
Joseph: Oh man! My mom gave me my sister’s lunch. I have PB&J but I don’t like jelly.
Sean: Really? That my favorite, but I have turkey today.
Joseph: Want to trade?
Sean: Ok.
Joseph: What else do you have?
Sean: A juice box, pretzels, and Oreos.
Joseph: I love Oreos!
Sean: Do you want one?
Joseph: I can’t take the best part!
Sean: It’s ok, I have two! My mom packs me some every day.
Joseph: Wow! Your mom is the best! Thanks!
SFX: Crunch of biting an Oreo and chewing.
Joseph: Hey, so I just got a new game. Would you want to come over and play it sometime?
Sean: Yeah, that sounds fun.
Joseph: Awesome!
SFX: Wonder if I gave an Oreo to you lyrics.
