As a copywriter, I’ve always been drawn to words in the wild. From billboards on the highway to products in my pantry, my eyes are forever scanning, analyzing, and often admiring the messaging brands use to communicate with the world. If a piece of copywriting is working, I try to understand what makes it effective. And if it’s not working, I want to know why—where did it miss the mark and how would I have tackled the challenge differently?
This happened to me on a recent trip to the supermarket. Walking down the home goods aisle, I spotted a bag of charcoal from a brand I was unfamiliar with: The Good Charcoal. The copy on the bag caught my eye—it was telling a more detailed story than any of the competitors. This made me want to take a closer look at the other bags on the shelf and see how their messaging compared to one another—and what marketing insights could be gleaned. Let’s run down these 3 charcoal bags and see how each of them tries to capture the interest of its audience—and make its pitch.
The Brand: Kingsford
The Message: “We’re the best”
Kingsford is one of the most widely-recognized charcoal brands, with a reported 80% market share. As such, they wisely refrain from too much packaging copy, instead opting for a simple leading message: “The way BBQ should taste.”
Interestingly, this messaging is talking about the way things ought to be. This tactic is straight from Aristotle’s rhetorical playbook: you stir audiences to action by toggling back and forth between how things are and how they should be, how they are and how they should be. In vacillating between the two states, desire is created. The power of the recognizable brand look and logo, plus the corresponding message saying “this is how things should be,” makes for a successful one-two punch.
When you buy Kingsford, you’re buying the known quantity—the way things ought to be, because it’s the way they’ve always been.
The Brand: Royal Oak
The Message: “You’re the Best”
How do you compete with Kingsford, a brand that’s telling the world “this is how BBQ ought to taste?” You could do what Royal Oak does and flip the script: instead of focusing on the product, focus on the people who will use it. (At MarketSmiths, we’re always encouraging our clients to take this tack; it’s core to our Copywriting for Humans philosophy.) In contrast to Kingsford, Royal Oak isn’t celebrating taste; taste is reduced to a marginal bullet: “Classic BBQ flavor.” Instead, the brand celebrates those who grill with the tagline, “For the Pitmaster in all of us.”
Contrary to Kingsford’s emphasis on taste, Royal Oak is all about people. It’s the “you’re the best” positioning, executed to delicious perfection.
The Brand: The Good Charcoal
The Message: “Let’s do better”
Finally, there’s The Good Charcoal—the company that caught my eye to begin with. Kingsford and Royal Oak are well-entrenched players in the charcoal space and The Good Charcoal would have a difficult time going head-to-head with either. Thankfully, they’re telling a completely different story—and this is what they do so well with their copy.
First of all, there’s the name: The Good Charcoal. Immediately, this throws down a gauntlet, as if to say all other charcoals are bad. How does The Good Charcoal justify such positioning? Well, it’s charcoal with a cause. By making their charcoal from acacia wood, they’re helping to reduce bush encroachment in Namibia, which is having a negative impact on the wildlife in the area. It all adds up to a third story in the charcoal arena. It’s not “we’re the best,” or “you’re the best”—it’s “let’s do better.”
And this story is sharply and simply stated on the bag. Beyond “Made 100% Chemical-free,” the copy further explains to us why that matters: “Healthier BBQ.” Similarly, it doesn’t just tell us it burns hotter—but informs us as to what that means: “You need less.” This is the classic transformation of features into benefits—a copywriting must. An upstart brand like this especially has to do the extra work to inform readers as to why their product is superior—and The Good Charcoal does this beautifully.
Three brands, three compelling sets of messaging. My little venture down the supermarket aisle reaffirmed what I already knew: when it comes to brand copywriting, a few words can speak volumes—in terms of how a product is positioned, what it means for a user, and the impact it’s having on the world. And with all that being said, I think it’s time to eat.
For copywriting that ignites your brand, talk to MarketSmiths.
