Brand Trip 2 - The Return of Rao
Ryan Tuttle `02
Issue date: 5/14/01 Section: Humor
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We departed Sage on Tuesday with only 3 liters of cheap wine and a 12 pack; calls for a beer stop began by Binghamton (aka BINGO!), but the overwhelming volume of the bus audio system muted our cries. Four hours and a detour through a mall parking lot later, we pulled into Fort Washington, Pa.’s finest Holiday Inn. I had to miss out on the evenings’ festivities, but I heard that they were highlighted by drinking games in the hotel bar and midnight runs for Wawa subs.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Tylenol and Pepcid, was our first company visit. We learned about how it plans to take a near-defunct children’s brand of aspirin and reposition it as a daily aspirin therapy to promote a healthy heart. The class was skeptical about how the nurturing essence of “Mommy’s magic medicine” could be used to market aspirin to adults. After hearing the market research and the equity built into the St. Joseph brand, we were convinced you could sell ice to an Eskimo as long as it had the St. Joseph brand on it. We also learned how McNeil used the trends in indication-specific analgesics to develop Women’s Tylenol, and the process the company went through to decide how to position it. Next, it was back in to the bus for a scenic ride (The Turnpike, baby!) through New Jersey to Rye, NY. Unfortunately the pool was closed at the Rye Hilton, so I had to cuddle up with Brad for an Autobytel.com bedtime story. The drinking that ensued downstairs resulted in two new TLAs: SHM and the GFB.
The morning brought about new adventures in getting lost before we arrived at IBM’s research facility. Their resident technology master presented to us their predictions for the tech industry. I was amazed and thoroughly confused by where technology is going to evolve over the next five to 10 years. In the afternoon, we presented IBM with our ideas on how they should do ingredient branding of their technology in other companies’ products.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Tylenol and Pepcid, was our first company visit. We learned about how it plans to take a near-defunct children’s brand of aspirin and reposition it as a daily aspirin therapy to promote a healthy heart. The class was skeptical about how the nurturing essence of “Mommy’s magic medicine” could be used to market aspirin to adults. After hearing the market research and the equity built into the St. Joseph brand, we were convinced you could sell ice to an Eskimo as long as it had the St. Joseph brand on it. We also learned how McNeil used the trends in indication-specific analgesics to develop Women’s Tylenol, and the process the company went through to decide how to position it. Next, it was back in to the bus for a scenic ride (The Turnpike, baby!) through New Jersey to Rye, NY. Unfortunately the pool was closed at the Rye Hilton, so I had to cuddle up with Brad for an Autobytel.com bedtime story. The drinking that ensued downstairs resulted in two new TLAs: SHM and the GFB.
The morning brought about new adventures in getting lost before we arrived at IBM’s research facility. Their resident technology master presented to us their predictions for the tech industry. I was amazed and thoroughly confused by where technology is going to evolve over the next five to 10 years. In the afternoon, we presented IBM with our ideas on how they should do ingredient branding of their technology in other companies’ products.