“Fact #149 The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.”
Snapple Bottle Case Study
How Snapple transformed a bottle into an anticipated experience, a personal relationship with customers and an industry leader.
Opportunity:
Back in the 90’s when Snapple launched, they had to stand out as the preferred drink from dozens of options (Coke, Lipton, Arizona, etc). Snapple approached this not by focusing on being a better drink, but by focusing on delivering a better experience.
Aha Experience:
Through an experience centered around their bottle, Snapple built a relationship with customers. Whereas people would simply drink a Diet Coke, they would anticipate, reuse, learn from, and laugh with a Snapple bottle.
Snapple incorporated three standout experiences into their drinks: 1) the glass bottle, 2) the “Snapple pop”, and 3) fun facts. Each of these created a delightful, unique, and habitual interaction with the product.
Glass Bottling
Basically every bottled beverage on the shelf was plastic. Snapple cleverly opted for a cylindrical glass bottle.
The Snapple bottle was higher quality, looked and felt different, could be reused afterwards, and even tasted different when drinking from the wide-mouth opening. The Snapple bottle literally meant more than a Coke bottle. A Coke bottle could be tossed away, dropped, thrown… A glass Snapple bottle you had to protect, you could keep, you could repurpose. The difference was noticeable.
The “Snapple Pop”
When you opened your Snapple bottle, the lid would make a popping sound that became so iconic, it became known as the “Snapple Pop.” A customer even wrote a letter about her dog named Shane who would come running whenever he heard a Snapple bottle opened, prompting Snapple to visit Shane and her owner to record an advertisement (see video below)!
The sound was novel. It sounded crisp and fresh - just like the drink. The pop added an audible element to the experience and became a fun association with the delight of a cold iced tea.
The “Snapple Pop” advertisement featuring Shane the dog!
Fun Facts
In a marketing meeting, someone pointed out that the bottom of the bottle caps were unused real estate. This sparked the now-famous “Real Facts” - clever and entertaining trivia written on the bottom of each cap.
The experience built a relationship between the company and the customer. Snapple became a funny and interesting lunch break companion. It made each Snapple unique, memorable, and amusing. Plus, people naturally shared these facts, creating positive word-of-mouth virality.
Outcome
The Snapple founders once said they knew “as much about juice as about making an atom bomb.” But they used every opportunity at their disposal to market themselves to the top of their industry, selling the company in 1997 to Quaker Oats Company for $1.7B and becoming a pop culture icon in the process.
Garrett’s Takeaways:
You offer an experience, not a “product.” Other companies offered drinks. Snapple offered an experience! Guess who won.
Make it personal (especially when you can’t be there). If your customer describes your brand with adjectives they usually reserve for humans, you’re in good shape. If not, get to work!
Go over-the-top. By being unusual or extreme, you’ll attract more evangelists. And evangelists are the name of the game. (I personally love the 1,000 True Fans explanation of this concept - see here.)
