Cross-selling is one of the smarter things that marketers have come up with. The bank where the customer already has his account also offers him a deposit there. The toy manufacturer, which already regularly makes parents poorer, also equips the children with shoes in a matching design. And some discounters have recently even let their customers walk around as human advertising pillars by selling them T-shirts and hoodies with the company logo. The motto: If you’re already a fan, you’ll consume cross-consumer.
Or drinks. The US chip brand Doritos, which itself belongs to the beverage company Pepsi, is now also offering its cheese-flavored nachos in liquid form – as schnapps. In a joint press release with the Danish spirits manufacturer Empirical, with whom Doritos developed the drink, the new product is touted in the vocabulary of a sommelier: The taste opens “with umami and spicy aromas of nacho cheese”, then goes “into the deeper, corn-driven flavors of the chip and ends with a gentle note of salt.” Hanging out on the sofa with a bag of tortilla chips on your lap was yesterday, salty finish is today.
If anyone would like to find out more about the high-proof snack, they will find Scandinavian honesty on the Empirical website: The result of the collaboration is “as crazy as it sounds,” is how the Danes describe their product themselves, and further: The first sip trigger a “WTF!? moment” in the consumer. Translated for young people, after toasting with liquid corn and cheese you obviously ask yourself, what the hell is that supposed to be? The price of $65 for a 750 milliliter bottle can trigger similar emotions.
Whoever does crazy things remains in the conversation
The new product may also make those with a very experimental sweet tooth dream of lavish parties in this country with gummy bear Prosecco, pretzel stick gin and peanut flips whiskey. The US TV channel CNN analyzes it very soberly: The liquid junk food is more of a than “Sales product is a marketing ploy in disguise.” Classic cross-selling is designed to generate higher sales immediately through a greater variety of products. Pepsi, on the other hand, probably doesn’t believe that its corn and cheese schnapps will become a bestseller in the future. But the conversation remains about who does crazy things: like Kahlúa and Absolut Vodka, who recently created a perfume that smells like an espresso martini. Or like the burger chain Arby’s, which poured its curly fries into vodka.
Does the thought give you a hangover feeling? Then you might want to do your own cross-selling. Even without help from Denmark, high-calorie items can be converted into high-percentage items: with a little gingerbread, the right spice, cream, milk, sugar and rum, you can mix a seasonal drink that doesn’t sound so crazy – but tastes good under the Christmas tree.