If you’ve seen the latest advertisements for Halls “Refresh” you’ve been told, “it’s not a cough drop.” This is a great re-positioning tactic for the goal of “introducing a different kind of Halls.” The problem is that Halls is already a leader, it doesn’t need a new position. Let’s look at the stats:
-Halls has been the longtime leader in cough drops for sore throats
-Halls registered its “mentho-lyptus” ingredient (a way of differentiating its brand through an attribute benefit)
-Halls owns the category. When you’re looking for a cough drop you don’t say, “do you have a throat lozenge?” you ask, “do you have a Halls?”
I want it all
The real problem is always about wanting to dominate the market. The CEO says, “Look at all these great candies out there. There’s Vitamin C candies, fruit berry blast candies, chocolate fruit candies. We’re losing market share by just selling cough drops.” So the team at Halls goes off and develops Halls Vitamin C, and Halls Breezers, and, now, Halls Refresh. And the website says: Get the Halls that’s right for you.
So now I find myself wondering, which Halls is right for me? And I’m no longer comfortable asking, “do you have a Halls?” because I’m not sure whether somebody is going to hand me a pomegranate blaster instead of the cool healing power of mentho-lyptus® I grew up on.