To reinvigorate iconic brands, companies must figure out what is core to their products and how to make that relevant to the modern consumer.
Cinnabon is an iconic brand that has had trouble maintaining its customers over the years. The gooey cinnamon rolls that were “the size of your face” come out at around 800 calories. Consumers started becoming more health conscious, and leadership at Cinnabon thought people might start to think twice when it came to giving in to the temptation of a Cinnabon. When Kat Cole took over as president of the company, they were immersed in an initiative, Project 599, where they were looking for ways to cut the calorie count under 600. Cole killed the project and questioned “Is this going to achieve what we’re looking for?” Then there was the problem of having to take out real ingredients and substitute them for synthetic ones to reduce the calorie count from 880 to 600. The brand had to really figure out what people valued about their brand and how to highlight those aspects to appeal to the millennial generation. Leaving aside the push under 600 calories, Cole and her team asked themselves “What do we actually own?” Is it Cinnamon? Cinnamon rolls? The frosting? When they asked consumers, they didn't mention an ingredient until word 10. They were coming up with words like aroma, soft, moist and indulgent, which led the team to conclude that it was “irresistible indulgence” that Cinnabon owned. The company then started making critical moves, one of them is that franchisees are mandated to carry Minibons, which only have 80-90 calories each. Some in the company feared that short term profits would prevent long term progress by pushing the smaller, cheaper option. The company thinks that 5-10% of customers might trade down, but the lower price point might encourage customers to buy a drink, or feel free to share to get people involved who wouldn’t have previously considered them. This would categorize as a product differentiation with the introduction of the brand new product”:Minibons.Â
