September 23, 2009

Biblical Marketing

How good is the Bible at marketing? What can this holy book teach us about the art of selling? Well, judging from the book sales it has certainly done a pretty good job of marketing itself. But what about its ability to sell other products?

Here's a product I came across last night at a local supermarket. Ezekiel 4:9 Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain Flour-less Almond Cereal, made by Food For Life Baking Company. Got all that?
Now I haven't actually tried the product. But I'm still curious: is this a good marketing effort from Food For Life?

I think so.

Here was the reaction of the person I was with upon seeing this: "Just because of the name I wouldn't buy this." Is this how you would react? I disagreed. I personally think the name is interesting, enticing, out of the ordinary and a pretty good selling point. It also plays to the subconscious of a Bible following individual. Irrational as it may be, there is a feeling that one is doing what the Lord wants by eating this cereal.

And for the many people out there looking to live in line with the Bible in a more literal manner, this may be another avenue for their self-expression. But if we're gonna be literal, let's just read the rest of the verse. You know what it says? It tells you how long Ezekiel had to eat this stuff for. No not one...not 10...but 390 days! Chew on that!

What do you think? Good marketing or bad?

(By the way, the New York Times Magazine rated this product 4 out of 4 in their cereal taste test.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, I have to tell you that cereal is AMAZING! I haven't had it a long time, but it was good and kosher when i did.

Second, the marketing of the Ezekial anything reminds me of the old kosher hot dogs, "Because we answer to a higher authority." it's almost too big, larger than life, and I think it works. If you look again, the quote on the box easily tells you what's in it:wheat, barley, beans and lentils, etc." Pretty smooth. Granted I love lentils and your friend just might be one of those who won't eat them in any form, but it works well for us lentils and spelt-types:) on many levels, not just the religious.

Unknown said...

The marketing is excellent - really caught my attention. But more importantly, the cereal is fabulous and when I lived in the US, I ate it all the time - certainly more than 390 days!

Israel W. said...

Interesting indeed.
Is this an American product? It seems to be targeting a niche market within a niche market (religious inside of the organic consumers)
It would be interesting to be the brand manager for these products and having a Tanach on my desk to look for product name ideas...
It makes me think of very funny product names.
Shanah Tova and Gmar Chatima tova.

Ideamonkey said...

I remember a student portfolio featuring a made up brand: "Cheeses of Nazareth." To this day, I swear I would buy that brand for the humor alone.

negevwriting said...

Hmm, Ayin Tov and Raquel, I'm tempted to buy some now...thanks for the recommendation. If it worked for Zeke...

Isral, yes, its from California I think. And you're right, the possibilities are endless for hypothetical biblical product names. Maybe one day one of us can do a post on that!

Ideamonkey...hillarious. Things like that are worth twice their value just to see a friend's reaction.