From Russchia with Renovation
Posted by James Littlewood on September 10, 2009
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Whilst out one weekend recently engaging in customary revelries I was approached with the offer of a free “vodka and Russchian”. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and thinking it churlish to refuse such an offer, I naturally accepted. When I asked whom to thank for such generosity, I was pointed in the direction of a mysterious looking chap dressed in a trench coat and hat described only as “the Russian.” The vodka and Russchian turned out to be a rather tasty twist on the standard vodka and tonic, imitating a popular way of serving vodka in its spiritual home.
So, full of excitement at my recent discovery and keen to show it off (I’d kept the bottle), I began parading it around the office the next Monday morning only to be told how it had been around for years and they’d known about it for ages and even our HR director used to quaff the stuff back when she was too young to know any better. With the wind taken out of my sails, I started to wonder: why hadn’t I heard about this before? How had I missed this very distinctive product from a market leading minerals brand?
I had been so excited though when I thought that I had been a part of a launch and had found something new. So it got me thinking; relaunching an existing product will not only re-alert consumers to a brand they’d forgotten about but may convince those who haven’t seen it before that it is an entirely new one without any of the expense of new product development. Admittedly this was a fairly minor promotion, but the interest generated far exceeded the outlay of dressing a promotions man up as a Russian spy and giving out a few free drinks.
We’ve all talked about the benefits of innovating our way out of a recession during the recent times of doom and gloom but what about renovation? Generate renewed interest in your brand with only a fraction of the cost.
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