Chapter 13 or Oreo (on page 561+) in Chapter 14.

Read your selected case thoroughly, and then answer the questions presented at the end. Your responses should reflect your own insights and ideas, but also include supporting evidence for your conclusions. Be particularly careful to include theory or support from both the text and other scholarly sources to document your ideas specific to the firm.

Twist, Lick, and Dunk! Does it Make Oreos Taste Better?

Do you fold your pizza slice or tap your can of soda before you drink it? If so, you are practicing a food ritual. As we discussed in this chapter, rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors that occur in a fixed sequence and are repeated periodically.¹⁷⁷ Rituals are an important component of culture and many rituals are associated with food. Perhaps you also follow the same ritual millions of others do when eating Milks Favorite Cookiethe Oreo: Twist, Lick, and Dunk!

Oreo was first introduced in 1912 and has grown to be the bestselling cookie brand of the 21^st century with over $2 billion in global annual sales and a roughly 5 percent share of worldwide cookie salesthats three times more than any other cookie.^178,179 Every year, enough Oreos are produced to circle the earth 5 timesover 40 billion!¹⁸⁰ A great product and intensive marketing have contributed to Oreos success, but many also give credit to the famous ritual associated with eating its delicious cookies.

One study found that food rituals like twist, lick, and dunk may actually enhance our enjoyment of the food we eat. Performing the ritual seems to boost our interest in the food; we think the eating experience is more enjoyable and we find the food more flavorful. An important finding for marketers was that the study participants who performed the ritual were willing to pay more than those who just ate the food without the ritual. The test was don

Discussion Questions

1. CS 14.1 What other food categories or brands have rituals associated with them? If you are a participant in one or more of those rituals, do you agree with the study referenced above that this ritual increases your enjoyment of the food?
2. CS 14.2 Choose a food brand without an apparent ritual and come up with one that could be used in a promotional activity. (No dunking allowed.)
3. CS 14.3 How could Oreo assess the impact of the twist, lick, and dunk ritual? Create a simple experiment that could provide Oreo marketers with data to judge the role that the ritual plays in some marketing metric of interest (e.g., brand loyalty, likely increased frequency of purchase, or differentiation from competitive offerings).