A Fresh Oreo

It's not easy staying relevant year after year as a brand ... let alone for 100 years.  Consumer tastes ebb and flow, competitors come and go, and your own management team constantly changes.  It's not easy staying fresh and relevant over the years.

"It's not easy being green," as they say.

So we have to give some props to brand Oreo.  It remains the number one selling cookie in the US, and was developed in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC in 1912.  1912!  And while this particular cookie could be viewed as old and tired, it's nothing but that.  It actually feels particularly fresh and relevant these days.

How?  It is aggressively inserting itself into pop culture and social media like never before.

With what?  An amazingly consistent brand equity and messaging that engages consumers in the age old debate:  lick or no-lick, dunk or no-dunk.  Just as fresh as ever ... and we know there is nothing better than a fresh Oreo!

Where?  Everywhere, including print, tv, digital, instore, and particularly in social media.  The brand made a strong and unexpected stand during The Super Bowl this year with its impromptu "dunk in the dark" tweet heard 'round the world when the lights went out in the stadium.  The brand has not stopped since, setting trends in social media marketing like it was a teenager, let alone a centenarian.

Props to Oreo for staying fresh, current and relevant in our lives.  BTW, I'm a no-lick, no-dunk kind of guy ... keeping it pure.

What's your experience?  Jim

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, The Experience Effect series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, Entrepreneur