Being that the word “snack” is in the title of this website, it would only make sense that the first real entry in the blog would be about a snack product.
A few months ago a friend and I went on a quick road trip up north to visit some friends at a neighboring college town. On our way home we stopped by at a Burger King. Equipped with my ’spidey senses’, I found myself a little more observant than usual. I saw a little display sitting on the counter for gourmet cookies by a company I admittedly had never heard of before–Otis Spunkmeyer. I found the name odd and somehow catchy. Well here we are a few months in the future and I decided that I would figure out exactly what this Spunkmeyer cookie machine is all about.
After digging deep into their company website, located at spunkmeyer.com, I found it interesting the way that this company is marketing their product. First of all, they pride themselves largely on being atop of their market (providing cookies to food service providers such as schools, hospitals, etc) It looks as if though the company took a shift from being just another local cookie shop to a national “gourmet cookie enabler”. Otis Spunkmeyer actually ships their frozen dough all over the place, apparently holding standards high as far as the conditions of preparation.
I think enabler is a great word for what Otis Spunkmeyer does. A business like Burger King or a service like a school cafeteria that may want to offer delicious gourmet cookies to their customers may not want to deal with the micro-management of making cookie dough. Spunkmeyer steps in, offers a steady stream of consistently high-quality dough to these food servicers, enabling them to offer an extra item on their menu with minimal hassle.
It appears that as of late, the cookie guru is offering fully customizable cookie toppings for their products. They are marketing this program as a manner in which for restaurants to keep customers coming back. The company’s site states, “Fun, fresh ideas will keep customers coming back to see what cookie creation you’ll come up with next.” They also present the customized cookie program as manner in which to battle price objections (I’m not sure how much these things cost) and generate sales while creating excitement.
The Otis Spunkmeyer website is designed with the food service provider in mind. Most of the copy on the site is geared toward prospective retailers of the company’s gourmet goods. The site has the intention of building excitement in that prospect with a conversion factor based on lead-generation. The site structure paths funnel the visitor into a enrollment form, in which information for a sales consultation is submitted.
I thought it was interesting to take a deeper look into how Otis Spunkmeyer has set up their cookie empire. They have definitely followed a company path different than that of the Nabiscos and Keeblers of the world. Good work Otis, next time I’m at Burger King I may just have to see what all this fuss is all about.