Liquid Gold

Strong brands are critical to satisfying retail experiences. By Todd Engels. Recently, I stumbled upon a headline on the website, The Daily. Intrigued, I had to read on. The article provided details about how sophisticated criminals — not your everyday shoplifter — are targeting Tide detergent. One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 of product over 15 months before he was busted last year.

As a marketer, the natural question I asked myself was, “Why Tide?” What was it about the brand that made it so valuable as to spawn such unabashed criminal activity? It is just laundry detergent, after all. While a struggling economy certainly is a contributing factor, what’s fascinating was how the rationale for Tide’s theft was described in terms that every shopper marketer should recognize. read >>