The back panel copy on the new Triscuit Reduced Fat package made me want to barf. Which is not good in the food business. Here is the copy. You decide.
“Headline: A Tasty Romance Awaits
Copy: The unique flavor, the satisfying crunch . . . Triscuit is just the kind of break your day needs. Go ahead. Enjoy the comforting flavor of Triscuit Reduced fat with the delicious pairings belor or create your own favorite.”
“Satisfying crunch” were the only two words that resonated with me. And they were buried. I do not expect romance from a snack cracker. And I will bet that very few others do either. So as a consumer, I would ignore these irrelevant words.
I would have said something like, “The Tasty Crunch of Whole Wheat, The Satisfying Crunch of Triscuit.”
Romance, break, and pairings are not good words for crackers and consumers. Pairings are about wines, not cheese and salsa toppings as are pictured on the back panel. These are snack ideas.
The task of package copy is always left to the least senior person in the brand group. Yet every single Triscuit buyer, consumer or considerer will see these words multiple times. Less than 5% will see the TV advertising. The practice of treating on-pack copy as a trivial pursuit has never made sense to me.
Hah. I don’t think many people do associate snack crackers with romance. Maybe there could be a cracker out there for which this copy would be more appropriate…say the name was “Occasions” and it were priced higher, and the crackers were stamped with some ritzy logo and the whole bit was packaged in a tin. Then maybe you could swing words like “romance” and “pairing”. But reduced fat Triscuits make me think of three things in this order: health, convenience, taste. I guess packaging is one of the easiest places to find a brand identity crisis.