The Reese’s Oreo and Perfect Advertising

Regular reader(s) of my Blog know (a) I work in advertising, (b) I love Oreo cookies, especially Double Stuffs and have claimed I would eat multiple boxes of them if ever on death row and asked what I want for my “last meal”, and (c) I can’t resist a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (in any form).

So? Look? At? This?

It’s a Reese’s Oreo Cup, combining a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and an Oreo cookie. Did you need that explanation? Maybe it’s obvious.

Maybe you’ve seen the commercials. Maybe it’s been out for a while. I don’t know, but it finally reached my consciousness about 10-days ago while, I think, watching sports. My first thought was, “no …. no … not necessary. Each is perfect on their own and does it really make sense to combine them?” I mean, I love a good Polish dill pickle. I also love a classic peanut butter and jelly jam sandwich. But I wouldn’t combine the two and put dill pickles on my peanut butter and jam sandwich. 

Point is … I didn’t think it was necessary and I said to myself, “I won’t go busting down the door at my grocery store to find this Reese’s Oreo Cup.

Then? It happened? While filling up at Speedway, I went inside for a (free) cuppa coffee using my Speedway Reward Points and right there, not even 8 steps from the coffee machine, was a display of Reese’s Oreo Cups inside the door of the cold beverages and a sign that said, “try ’em cold.”  

Quick aside … everyone knows the only thing better than a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is a chilled Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, right? And we all agree the Oreo Frosting is among the greatest foods ever invented?  And why can’t I get a tub of Oreo frosting for baking at home? I demand answers. Do I call my Congressman? 

Anyway. There they were. Reese’s Oreo Cups. Doubles. Quadruples. Hmmmmm. Maybe, I thought, I should give this a try so I impulse-bought one along with my coffee and the verdict?

Amazing. Not so amazing enough that I’ll never ever again eat a regular Oreo Double Stuff or regular Resse’s Peanut Butter Cup on their own, but when my insatiable “sweet tooth” starts begging me for chocolate or a sugary snack, and as long as these are convenient and available, you can bet I’ll mix these into my sugar-solutions along with…

• Reese’s Fast Break Candy Bars
• Snickers
• Three Musketeers
• Nutty Buddy 2-Packs

There’s a thousand ways a product like this goes-to-market and tries to get attention. I imagine a boardroom or think-tank where Reese’s and Oreo brand managers are sitting with this new product idea and across the table is a group of young, t-shirt wearing advertising agency people and they say, “we need to get this into the zeitgeist.”  I think people use that word all the time and that “zeitgeist” is synonymous with “mainstream” and “the masses” and I’m not going to look it up. 

“We need to get this into the zeitgeist.”

One young guy says, “how about we have a flash mob at a busy mall?

Another says, “how about we dop them from helicopters onto an elementary school playground during recess?”

Then, some old guy who’s been at the agency for years, and still wears a dress shirt instead of graphic tees to work and still wears brown lace up dress shoes instead of Nike Airs or Vans with jeans. The guy none of the young people at the agency ever invite to lunch because they like to talk about him behind his back because “the advertising world has passed him by” and “he still thinks Facebook is ‘social media'” and they say things like “low key” and know they’d have to explain things like that to him if he ever did join them for lunch . . . this guy takes a sip of coffee and says…

“How about we put them on end caps at Speedway in view of the rolling hot dog warmer or the coffee maker where some middle-aged guy who’s ‘had a long day’ might be needing some comfort food’…”

And the guy at the white board doesn’t even write down that idea.  But then some exec from Reese’s and Oreo says, “wait … now that’s kind of a great idea because our research shows the Reese’s and Oreo brand play well with the Gen X crowd looking for nostalgia and the second best ‘test group’ was overworked, tired, grumpy 50-something dudes.”

The young guy, reluctantly, writes the idea on the white board and nobody even talks about his helicopter idea and then … months later?

The Reese’s Oreo Cup is right there for me to find, try, and fall in love with.

This is how marketing happens.