Re-Gifting your product

As I was watching commercials the other night and a Bounty select-a-size ad came on, I was struck by what must be one of marketings most impressive feats. The Re-Gift, or re-package, or re-whatever you want to call it. Basically taking your regular product and re-packaging it or re-marketing it as a brand new entity. The Bounty select-a-size isn't the greatest example because there is some innovation in the product, but it does offer a bit of a re-gift. Select a size basically takes paper towels and cuts the regular sheet in half and allows it to be tearable every half sheet instead of a full sheet. This is not a remarkable new technology or even a genius piece of engineering, it's a simple well thought out way to market their product that makes people feel like they are saving money by using less paper towels while at the same time their conscience gets a pat on the back because that means they are throwing out less garbage too. Thats win-win for the customers and definately a win for the marketing team.

But think about it, being able to re-market your product to an entirely new market or for an entirely new purpose is extraordinarily genius and creative, even if some may think of it as pulling the wool over someones eyes. But the majority of the time these new applications for your product/brand provide something to the target market your aimed at, otherwise they would fail miserably.

Probably the best ever representation of this was when Arm & Hammer realized that people were using their baking soda to neutralize the smells in their fridges. They now have a variety of products that are directly designed just for putting in your fridge/freezer to help keep them odor free. Genius.

Now unfortunately not all products/brands provide marketers with the ability to re-gift them to consumers, but maybe yours does. Does it?