Peeps: The Harley Davidson of the Candy World

Well, it’s almost-sorta-kinda Spring, and a marketing person’s fancy turns, quite naturally, to Peeps, the delightful marshmallow chick whose arrival heralds the end of snow season. (Or should.)

I was thinking about Peeps because it’s one of those product brands that has taken on a life of its own, making the Peep a cultural icon. People talk about Harley Davidson as being a great brand because people tattoo the company’s name and logo on their biceps. But Peeps, well, maybe there aren’t a lot of Peeps tattoos out there - I’m quite certain that there are some - but Peeps does have Peeps-eating contests. (Nobody eats a Harley.)

Of course, the idea of eating more than one or two Peeps in the course of the year does make my stomach lurch just a wee bit, but a Peeps-eating contest does speak to brand excellence in a way. I mean, there are all sorts of food-eating contests and, while I try to avoid reading or viewing anything about them, I don’t think that they’re usually associated with a specific product (other than the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest).

But Peeps has got more going for it than Peep-eating contests. There’s brand extension in all directions.

First, Peeps has long ago moved into "Always in Season" mode by adding Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Fourth of July Peeps into the mix. Now, I may not consider a Christmas tree Peep an echt Peep, but somebody must. (More than 1.2 billion Peeps are sold each year, and some proportion of them are actually consumed.) Peeps has also expanded the Easter offerings with bunny rabbits. Not to mention multi-colored Peeps. It’s not just the canary yellow chicks any longer. There are pink, blue, lavender, and green chick Peeps, as well. And then there’s the brilliant brand combo package: red Peeps available only at Target.

Although they’ve been available since 2005 - which I found out on the JustBorn web site - I saw my first stuffed Peep just a few weeks back, in the window of CVS. And there, on the shelves, were all sorts of stuffed Peeps - chicks and bunnies, regular and bean bag, as well as Peeps Easter baskets.

Just check out all the Peep-ish merchandise that’s available. I can’t even tell quite what all this stuff is, but there sure is a lot of it. Thankfully, most of the clothing looks like it’s baby- and toddler-sized. (Maybe I’m just a snob, but I really don’t like seeing grown ups in XXL Winnie-the-Pooh sweatshirts.

 

Having spent my career in the boring old technology world, where are brand extensions are new operating systems, API’s, higher capacity. And our gear tends toward pens, mouse pads, and company logo shirts, I am somewhat in awe of all these things Peeps. What I wouldn’t have given to be able to introduce a new color or stuffed version of a software package - and have it put a smile on somebody’s face.

Ah, spring has nearly sprung. Time to go forth and have a celebratory Peep.

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