15 ms·
My takeaway: there are huge potential markets in people who are not like me. The execs were probably completely unaware of this market, and it took an outsider
by starpilot 7y ago
My takeaway: there are huge potential markets in people who are not like me. The execs were probably completely unaware of this market, and it took an outsider to hold their hand and bring it to them. I love flaming hot cheetos and know tons of people who do, but there is no way I would have thought of taking the hot pepper / other spices from a traditional Mexican food (elotes, which I had in LA) and adapting them in this way. The fact that everyone I interact with forms an upper class monoculture (white/asian, college educated, 20s-40s, mostly US-born) means that I have huge blindspots. I wonder what huge businesses could be created catering toward senior citizens, for middle aged people working retail, recent Asian immigrants, working single fathers, and so on.
- GuiA 7y agoThen again, there is the tale of dulce de leche M&M’s - trying to tap into such a market, only for it to fail terribly. https://mms.fandom.com/wiki/Dulce_de_Leche_Caramel_M%26M%27s https://mms.fandom.com/wiki/Dulce_de_Leche_Caramel_M%26M%27s
- mcny 7y agoMy guess based on what I read from the grandparent post is there was probably some poor product fit. Perhaps we would have done better marketing it towards "gringos"? From your link: > In July 2001, Dulce de Leche M&M's were introduced in five markets with large Hispanic populations: Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Florida; Mcallen-Brownsville, Texas; and San Antonio, Texas. The flavor never became popular with the Hispanic community, who preferred existing M&M's flavors, and it was discontinued in most areas by early 2003. Perhaps there is an opportunity in introducing it to people who don't have previous experience with this flavor? Just thinking out loud...
- chasontherobot 7y agoAs someone who ate those Dulce de Leche M&Ms, what would've helped is if they were any good or bore any resemblance to the flavor they were named after.
- cr0sh 7y agoThe other issue was that the whole "Dulce de Leche" market became over-saturated. I remember that time - it was like everything was "dulce-this, dulce-that"; heck, I think there were cough-lozenges in that flavor.
- Loughla 7y agoThis nails the issue. It's why flaming hot Cheetos were successful but Dulce de Leche weren't. Don't make something meant to be something else explicitly. Make something that has the same meaning (or in this case flavor) as something else but make it its own thing for its own sake.
- cat199 7y agoalso, chocolate is a heavy part of mexican cuisine.. so it's not 'foreign' to start with..
- news_to_me 7y agoThis is why diversity is so important! Not only in business, but in general — everyone has huge blind spots, no matter what background they have. Life is much larger and more diverse than people usually imagine. Interacting and learning from people with different backgrounds than yours is a fundamentally rewarding experience, although it can be hard at times.
- ravenstine 7y agoIt has to be taken seriously by management, however. I've worked at a few places where diversity was king but upper management continued to make the decisions of aging middle-class white folks. Not that I have a problem with that in and of itself, but it was funny how they would hire lots of women and minorities, say that they wanted to target undeserved demographics, but then never actually attempt to do it. Diversity is, more often than not, a veneer.
- closetohome 7y agoThe unfortunate result of viewing diversity as a performance metric to hit, rather than a real and decisive advantage.
- whenchamenia 7y agoAnd percicely the metric being pushed for by those who should know better. You can't quantify viewpoint diversity in a spreadsheet or quarterly report.
- taneq 7y ago"Undeserved" instead of "underserved" is an unfortunate typo there... :P
- ravenstine 7y agoYep, that's what I meant. Thanks!
- 7y ago
- quickthrower2 7y agoWhat, adding chili to a food? I reckon the monoculture cohort you talk of could have come up with that.
- ribosometronome 7y agoAnd yet, they didn't.
- netsharc 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus
- quickthrower2 7y agoMaking something hotter is the food equivalent of "Uber for" in the startup world.
- bluedino 7y agoThere were hot/spicy snacks before hot Cheetos. No white person could have put two and two together?
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y agoMaybe they could have, but obviously they didn't.
- 01100011 7y agoThe problem with being an engineer is, in general, you do not think like normal people. Case in point, Facebook. I know I've often discussed with other engineers how simple it would have been to implement with off the shelf technology in the '00s, but none of us would have ever wanted it. Often when I encounter problems I try to route around them, instead of developing productized solutions and marketing them to others.
- m463 7y agoWent to the east coast, couldn't find spicy chips/snacks of any kind in the grocery stores. Finally found Takis at... Home Depot.
- marsrover 7y agoTry the gas stations next time.
- m463 7y agoActually I did, but that was hit or miss. Who knows, maybe they did tests and they didn't sell. Personally, I like spicy because it's better than the alternatives of sugar and fat. I would say you should be able to eat lots of them without getting full, but then you do get "enchilado".
- ukyrgf 7y agoHome Depot is targeting day laborers, I would imagine. I live in the southeast where there are lots of migrant workers, and it's like described in the article, with entire aisles of gas stations dedicated to these kinds of snacks.