- Nothing boosts sales like stirring up some pointless controversy.
All publicity is good publicity. We don’t know who said it originally, but whoever it was, they were correct.
Goldfish is the latest brand to prove this anonymous marketing genius right.
As a kid, you surely snacked on these cheesy crackers that don’t actually have anything to do with fish apart from their shape. Well, that’s a joy today’s children will not get to experience.
That’s because the crackers have officially changed their name. Say goodbye to Goldfish and welcome the Chilean Sea Bass Crackers.
With the name change, the brand wants to shake off its reputation as a snack for children. After all, it is much more adult to dine on Chilean sea bass than “goldfish.”
Are you outraged yet? Do you want to get online to complain about greedy corporations dragging your childhood memories through the mud?
Well, hold your angry tweets for a moment. This is just a temporary change, and it’s not much of a change at all.
Today’s children might have to put up with Chilean Sea Bass Crackers, but next week’s children won’t. This is just a temporary name change that lasts for a week, and the crackers will go back to being Goldfish.
Another thing is that it’s not really a name change. It won’t affect the crackers’ flavor, recipe, packaging… Or even name.
Yeah, you’ll never find Chilean Sea Bass Crackers on the store shelves. They’re only available for a few days on a specific website.
And even then they’re just Goldfish in a marginally different bag.
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So why would Goldfish do this whole thing? They made the name change appear fairly official with their corporate statements and whatnot, so why put in the effort for a whole lot of… Well, nothing?
Why else do companies do anything? They want to increase sales.
As we mentioned, you surely remember eating Goldfish when you were young. And that’s not the problem — kids these days still eat Goldfish.
The problem is that you don’t. At some point in your life, you grew up and stopped eating Goldfish because they’re a kid’s snack.
By “changing” the crackers’ name to the more sophisticated Chilean Sea Bass, the brand hopes to convince you that they’re also suitable for adults.
“We know Goldfish are a lunchbox icon, but the truth is, they’re loved by snackers of all ages,” Goldish vice president Danielle Brown told CNN.
“So, as a playful reminder, we went ahead and gave our iconic cheddar cracker a new, fun, grown-up name,” she added.
Alright, fair enough — you have to market your products. And it’s not like this is a particularly new idea for Goldfish, since the brand has in recent years released all kinds of bizarre limited-edition versions of its crackers.
To give some example, in 2022, Goldfish came out with the 50% larger Mega Bites variant. Last year, they released some additional flavors, like Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Spice and Frank’s Red Hot.
No, what’s weird here is that Goldfish didn’t need to do this. Market data shows Goldfish is the fastest-growing cracker brand in 2024.
People are eating your crackers, Goldfish. But we suppose it’s not enough until Goldfish are all people eat, all the time.
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You also have to ask, why risk the brand’s reputation with this kind of ridiculous marketing move? Do campaigns aimed at promoting nothing but meaningless outrage even work?
Well, yes, actually. Similar marketing campaigns from other companies show it works very well.
In 2009, in anticipation of the release of its new “Tuscani” pasta meals, Pizza Hut announced it would rebrand to Pasta Hut. The company claimed its pastas were so good, that’s what people would start calling the restaurant anyway.
Well, people got upset. But it worked out for Pizza Hut, as its new pastas overdid the company’s sales expectations upon launch.
Meanwhile, in 2016, the beer brand Budweiser said it was going to be called “America” from then on.
Did it actually rebrand? No. Did people get upset and stir up free publicity? Yes. Did Budweisers sales increase? Also yes.
Then, in 2018, IHOP announced it would become IHOb, or the International House of Burgers. Again, there was a lot of yelling on the internet, but the company’s burger sales increased four-fold.
We could go on, but you get the idea. The bottom line is, if you have something to sell, make people angry at you.
That way, they’re sure to remember your name.
Want to read more about weird marketing gimmicks? Check out our article on why fragrance ads are so weird.