The Artisan Can of Soda - An industry Quagmire

Bruce Horowitz from The USA Today wrote a great article about how Marketers are using the artisan label approach to evoke more sales of their products. It showed the obvious trend of the plagiarist mentality of big retail marketers and their ability to confuse the masses with false promotions of "crafted" products.

Why don't we look at the actual definition of Artisan.

Artisan: One that produces something (as cheese or wine) in limited of limited quantities, often in traditional methods.

So now there's Domino's Artisan Pizza, Tostitos Artisan Recipes chips and of course, Starbucks has Artisan Breakfast Sandwiches. If you walk the isles of your local grocer you're sure to see an Artisan substitute for any commodity product from the big brands. In a certain way you have to laugh at the impudence of some companies to take themselves seriously in the world of "traditionally produced goods". I understand that big business has to replicate on defining and emerging trends to stay ahead of the curve. They need to understand the consumer psyche at a granular level and market to that base to make sure their brand fits with the shifting tide of buyers preferences.

It's the whole "You can put lipstick on a pig............" mantra that none of these folks ever seem to really understand. I'm going to use an example. Most of you know that I like good craft beer and often write about beer drinking culture.

Let's take a look at Genesee Beer, for over 125 years Genesee (the brewery's first beer) has been an American icon. Today, every can, bottle and pint glass delivers the same full taste and quality that made it famous in 1878. Brewed with six-row barley malt, corn grits and hops from the Yakima Valley, Genesee Beer will forever be a classic. As beer culture has been flipped upside down by craft beer, Genesee has never tried to flip the company and play in that world. They are a commodity beer brand that produces easy drinking lagers and Cream Ales. They have a customer target, and they stick to their principles. I'm sure we will never see Genesee Brewery ever jump into compete with Samual Adams. It's not their core competency to do so.

So, having said all of that - let me introduce you to Chet Hammerton. You're welcome.