January 19th, 2016

How Are Consumers Responding to Chobani’s Negative Attack on their Competition?

Author

Ace Metrix

Yogurt. It’s one of the most docile sounding foods in existence. It’s right up there with baby food and oatmeal when you think of kinder, gentler foods. It’s not what springs to mind when you think of a category from which brands might attack one another. After all, yogurt wouldn’t hurt a fly…or so it once seemed…

Earlier this month, Greek yogurt maker Chobani launched a campaign for their Simply 100 product that directly called-out two of their competitors, Dannon and Yoplait. Chobani’s ads claim these other brands use ingredients that are harmful to consumers, and that their product is the all-natural choice for the health-conscious shopper, even using the hashtag “#NoBadStuff” in the ads. This approach has spawned cease and desist filings, lawsuits, and name-calling.

As these brands go at it in front of judge and jury, we took a look at how consumers are responding to Chobani’s two new commercials, “Pool” and “Fruit Stand”. Do viewers take issue with Chobani’s approach of attacking their competitors? While our data says viewers did call out the negative attacks on competitive brands, the ads were still effective in sharing information and getting their point across.

In “Pool”, seen below, a woman is shown sunbathing near a swimming pool. She picks up a Dannon yogurt and throws it away, saying it uses artificial sweeteners and chooses to have Chobani yogurt which is sweetened naturally according to the ad. This ad’s overall Ace Score* was 614, well above the Dairy category norm of 585. “Pool” exceeds category norms in every component measured, with the highest margins in Information (10 percent), Change (6 percent), and Relevance (4 percent).

The ad performed best among women 36-49, with the lowest score (and only score below category norm) coming from men 50+. It would seem the Greek yogurt brand is hitting their core target.

pool gender age UI

Additionally, the ad performed strongest among those who use the brand, have purchased it in the past, or might consider it in the future. For those consumers where brand affinity is the strongest, the attack on Dannon wasn’t as big of a factor.

pool experience jan 18

Two main themes emerged from the responses to the open-ended survey question. On the one hand, consumers described the ad as informative, clearly communicating the health benefits and natural ingredients of the product. A few examples:
Screen Shot 2016-01-18 at 11.02.55 AM

On the flip side, some consumers expressed their distaste for the negative attack on a fellow yogurt-maker, thought that didn’t always translate to a lower score:
Screen Shot 2016-01-18 at 11.03.09 AM

Chobani’s other ad in this campaign, “Fruit Stand”, features the same woman, this time sitting in a car, contemplating a Yoplait Greek yogurt. Upon reading that it contains potassium sorbate, she throws it from the car saying “that stuff is used to kill bugs”. This ad doesn’t perform as well as “Pool,” receiving an Ace Score of 583, ever-so-slightly below the category norm of 585. It scores 7 percent above the category norm for Information, and 4 percent above for Change.

While this ad also performed best among women 36-49, it scored below the category norm for most gender/age groups:
fruit stand gender age

As with “Pool”, this ad was best-received among Chobani customers, past-purchasers, and intenders:
fruit stand experience jan 18

We also saw mixed response for this ad with some consumers being pleased by the information and some displeased by the negative approach:
Screen Shot 2016-01-18 at 11.44.24 AM

Some examples of negative reaction, again not always having an adverse effect on overall effectiveness:
Screen Shot 2016-01-18 at 11.44.34 AM
While the yogurt battle may rage on in court, time will tell how this sort of negative advertising will affect a brand’s perception with consumers. From what we are seeing, consumers may not like the attack approach, but information reigns supreme, especially when talking about health and ingredients.

*Definition: The Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV and Digital ads. A unique sample of 500+ people, representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience scores each ad. The results are presented on a scale of 1–950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as Persuasion, Likeability, Information, Attention, Change, Relevance, Desire and Watchability.

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