Love it or hate it, one has to admire Pot Noodle's ability to hang on in there. Successive generations might claim to remember its launch, but the product pre-dates microwave ready-meals, and has seen off a host of culinary foods and fashions.
In fact, Pot Noodle has reinvented itself more times than fellow 70s stalwart David Bowie. The everlasting challenge for the Unilever-owned brand is to appeal to a new generation of lads, as the previous one moves away in the direction of real food and girlfriends. Another priority is to appeal to those mothers who buy the convenience snack for their sons.
Pot Noodle marketing manager Cheryl Calverley says you can't market to one group without appealing to the other. "Pot Noodle is bought by mum and eaten by youths," she explains. "Mum has got to buy it - if she doesn't, that youth will find something else in the cupboard. You've got to do both jobs, but anything that appeals to mum doesn't necessarily appeal to her son."
It was during the infamous "Slag of all Snacks" campaign that Pot Noodle lost sight of those mothers. This was rectified with its "Fuel of Britain" activity, which managed to unite two customer strands. The company has since split its promotional work between mothers, who are targeted via women's press, and young men, who are targeted through TV and the internet. But both elements of its modern campaign are tied to a single brand idea.
In your face
In recent months, Pot Noodle has been active on the marketing front. In May, it launched a TV ad featuring a spoof 80s power ballad entitled I Wish Girls Were More Like Pot Noodle. This was supported by experiential activity, created by agency Closer, in which members of the public were encouraged to knock each other off the tops of giant Pot Noodle containers, with 'mushroom' and 'tomato' batons.
The TV ad, which proved that the brand is not afraid to ruffle feathers, prompted accusations of sexism in complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Now Pot Noodle is turning its attentions to on-pack promotion, where it has a great heritage. Its 2002 "Poodle in your Noodle" campaign - for which plastic poodles placed inside the snack could be redeemed for cash - was listed in P&I's Best SP Ever chart. Calverley says promotions are as central to the brand as ever.
"On-pack promotion gives you a good reason to talk to the consumer," she adds. "We do lots of brand stuff, but this gives people a reason to buy. What's more, retailers will give us the space in store to market the product."
The on-pack campaign, which launches in September and offers consumers the chance to claim one of 500,000 rotating forks, was actually devised by Pot Noodle's agency, Billington Cartmell (BCL), two years ago. The agency trialled the battery-powered fork - which rotates to pick up noodles and has prongs to catch smaller ones - while researching last year's X-Factor promotion.
BCL account director Marco Gazzelloni says: "Everyone in the research groups ignored the X-Factor promotion and asked 'What's this?'. The fork promotion feels current, even though it is two years old. Now is the right time to run it because it fits perfectly with the above-the-line work."
Gazzelloni says the strength in this campaign is that it will appeal to mothers and young people alike.
The campaign - which also gives consumers the chance to buy the forks online - will be supported by TV, press and online advertising. Press ads will be tailored to mothers and sons separately, while the TV work will feature the same two characters who starred in the May campaign.
Its breadth of experience in creating promotions means Pot Noodle has been able to apply some valuable lessons in the development of the promo. As well as focusing on its target market, the agency has also considered how the gift can be collected. Buyers of winning containers will be congratulated with a message inside the snack. They will be able to collect the rotating fork online - via a regular website or a mobile portal set up specifically for the campaign.
Gazzelloni says it is important to make redemption easy for consumers because many prize-collection websites are cluttered with elements that confuse visitors. Not so in this case - BCL has ensured that the website for the rotating fork is simple to navigate. Meanwhile, SMS, which was used with some success in the X-Factor promotion, has been scrapped as a redemption channel. Pot Noodle was concerned about how consumers would react to having to pay to send a text message, and did not want to be seen to be profiteering from them.
"The easier the redemption method, the better," says Calverley. "If you make online redemption complicated, there is less interest. You've got to make it simple.Where there's interest, people will redeem."
One of the brand's innovations this year is its dotMobi site - Pot Noodle is the first Unilever product to set one up. "We wanted people to be able to get a fork if they wanted one," says Calverley. "Our consumers are very strong users of mobile and have the latest phones - we can use that."
Reeling them in
It is easy to suppose that this promotion is just about shifting product, but there's more to it than that. Fundamentally, it is about maintaining awareness of the brand, as well as driving visitors to Pot Noodle's website, which is content-heavy. "Communication online is vital," says Calverley. "We are not a brand that people are going to be seeking information on, as they would for Sony, for example. We have to make people want to talk to us."
She adds: "Everything is about entertainment and giving the consumer content. Sony wants people to come and find out about its products, but that is not going to happen with us."
It makes sense that for a brand that has been up to date since the 70s, online is where the current and next generation of Pot Noodle eaters will be gained or lost. However, there is even more to the promotion than pushing people online. The fork carries an important offline message.
"The fork is not just about building the brand's values and enjoyment," Calverley says. "It's also a fun presence in the home." Proof then, that despite the current focus on the internet and technology, the branded premium is as relevant as ever.
FACT FILE
北京赛车pk10: Pot Noodle spinning fork offer
Live from: September
Brief: to drive sales and traffic online, appealing to mothers and sons
Redemption mechanism: mobile and online
IN MY VIEW
With the Olympics having brought out many people's national pride, now is the time to celebrate everything British. So, when reviewing the Pot Noodle campaign, I was keen to see the self-proclaimed Fuel of Britain performing well. And the outlook for this quirky, offbeat campaign is very good indeed.
This effort put a wry grin on my face. This is refreshingly confident work that doesn't take itself too seriously. Its wit, simplicity and irresistible cheeriness are perfect extensions of the brand's identity.
Here is a campaign with a strong sense of its audience - not necessarily an easy task, given the brand's dual targeting of lads and their mums. True, it has had to backtrack somewhat from the Slag of all Snacks positioning, but with this campaign, Pot Noodle has created something to appeal to both. It even ticks the online box, so everyone should be happy.
As for the spinning fork itself, the thought behind this is highly sound. It's a boys' toy - a gadget that is purposeful and relevant to the product yet has that distinctive Pot Noodle twist. This should get people talking about the brand - students especially.
There's a certain old-school nostalgia about the premium strategy, which I feel perfectly suits Pot Noodle. It's a brand that prides itself on being slightly offbeat, and this activity does something very different - it is 90s in theme, but somehow new in execution. I also see it as a natural continuation of previous campaigns, tapping into a uniquely British, tongue-in-cheek sense of humour.
Above all, the strongest aspect of this work is that it recognises to whom it is talking, and gets under the skin of the product's mass appeal with light and likeable copy. Here, the concept and tone are perfectly tailored.
However, there is some really strong competition out there right now and it would be a shame to see this work fall behind. While the thought behind this activity is undoubtedly gold-medal material, its execution must be top-notch so as not to settle for silver.
A bit like our Olympians, then, although I wouldn't be too sure that Pot Noodle is endorsed by the IOC - 8/10.
Dave Lambert is creative director at Momentum Manchester.