For those of you not familiar with Penzey’s, it is a growing, family-owned spice company that originated in Wisconsin. Even with the onset of the digital age (which have helped with building community and exponential sales), it’s the most fun to shop in the brick and mortar store. The customer experience is amazing, especially if you love to cook. Penzey’s says, that “cooking is kindness, and that kindness can change the world.” I have to agree!
My mom shares the writings and emails of Pennzey’s CEO, Bill Penzey. He is an extremely outspoken figure who expounds upon liberal politics and the crisis in American democracy under the Trump administration.
Brands have begun to show their colors, and why not? A human is behind every brand, no matter how old it is. Remember the recent experiences with Chick fil-A and Hobby Lobby? What about the Colorado baker who refused to make and sell a cake to a gay couple in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court? Nike actually chose to build a campaign around Colin Kaepernick, which is somewhat different than the previous examples.
Building Community With Controversy
When you serve people with your products there is a choice whether to wear your beliefs on your sleeves or keep them to yourself. Bill Penzey elects to build community using the former. His views are squarely on his sleeves, front and center.
From his vantage point, he’s building community one spice at a time. In fact, what speaks more loudly than his words are his company’s sales. Penzey’s sales have shot upward. Isn’t it interesting how politics and words can influence sales of spices? It’s obviously due to building community.
Look:
“Arizona Dreaming is one of our best blends, inspired by people very much like John McCain with the strength to fight the uphill battle for a more inclusive Arizona. Arizona Dreaming is a very tasty celebration of the coming together of cultures that so flavors the foods and the lives lived across America’s Southwest. Don’t miss this chance to get yours free.”
Did that blurb spark your interest in wanting to buy Arizona Dreaming in honor of Senator John McCain? (Or, maybe I’m sentimental!)
Who else do you know in the corner office who mixes spice with politics to earn sales, literally? You’ll see in Mr. Penzey’s recent email newsletter that his side of the aisle is very good for his business, and he encourages marketers to observe and embrace that.
Bill Penzey on Politics, Building Community And Spices
Below is a recent post from Bill Penzey I’d like to share with his permission to republish.
“We think we’ve discovered something. What we’ve discovered is that standing up against everything the Republican Party has become is really, really, really (+76 more reallys), really good for business. I understand how this can seem at odds with the image so popular right now that America is an evenly divided nation, but as we’ve learned this image does not reflect reality. And as much as it seems that the big issue right now is an out of control, possibly worse than racist presidency, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The real issue is the unlimited political spending that brought this President and so many other Republicans to power. Watching TV ads and reading comment sections, it can seem like Republicans actually have popular support, but these days ads and comments are simply part of the many things unlimited political spending can buy. Yet from our experience what we’ve found political spending can’t buy is popularity.
This chart is our weekly online sales this year vs last year starting with the week of April 1st. It mostly is the tale of just two offers. The first was calling out the President for claiming that he was above the law; he isn’t. This is America where no one is above the law. No one can pard
on themselves.
The second came with us pointing out that the Russia probe has to happen because: Our President chose a campaign chairman who had accepted $17 Million from a pro-Russia political party. This chairman personally picked the vice president, who in turn went on to pick a literal Russian agent as our country’s top national security advisor, despite being clearly warned by our intelligence community about his past.
The first offer in the chart looks like two spikes because this is a weekly graph and that offer ran over a Saturday and Sunday. But that second offer, that big pyramid there, just ran for 18 hours over a Thursday night. With that offer we received an 80-fold increase in sales over the same time period last year. Along with the avalanche of orders we also got comments like: “Don’t mix business and politics, Bill. It’s bad for the bottom line.” “I was taught years ago, you don’t mix politics or religion with your business.”
Yet, look at the chart. This is not 80% growth, this is 80 times as much in sales!
In our experience we’ve found that when you honestly support and speak out for the values of your customers, your customers support you. Looking at how we evolved, humanity really is the gift of Cooks, and for people who cook to simply watch as Republicans use the power the money of unlimited spending has bought them to undermine education, attack the environment, take health insurance from the poor, dehumanize those deemed not white enough, and separate children from their parents simply for seeking asylum; these can be heartbreaking times. Speaking out now really matters.
If you are involved in a business that has been uncomfortable with the Republican attacks on human decency, there is really no better time to share those concerns with your customers than right now. Your country needs you to step up.
And if you are a marketer, please be aware that the times are changing. Maybe it’s time to stop saying young people can’t be reached and instead try to get your clients to look to the values young people hold dear. At some point some breakfast cereal maker is going to celebrate the bravery of Colin Kaepernick by having him taking a knee on the cover of their box. In that moment they will win all of the younger generations for all of the rest of their lives.
There’s talk right now about people no longer being interested in things but instead being interested in experiences. At Penzeys we sell Spices, the very things that have been selling continuously for longer than any other thing in human existence. I believe a big part of why Spices have the staying power they do is that they are experiences.
Each Spice, every Seasoning connects us to a place, a time, an event that has at its heart our humanity — how we take care of each other. Make your product an experience, make your experience in some way radiate decency, compassion, and kindness and get ready to be busy.
Right now those on the frontlines of challenging what the Republican Party has become are being rewarded, and that’s a good thing. Unlimited political spending has taken away the vote from individuals and given it to corporations that seek profit from undermining the public good. It’s time for Americans to vote with our spending. My advice is to be a company worth voting for.
I believe what we’ve been experiencing is only the start of something much bigger. Business is an evolutionary process where the new things that work very quickly become what everyone needs simply to survive. This is not the time to be left behind. Spend every day like it’s November 6th.
Bill | bill@penzeys.com”
Find Your Kin As Your Next Customer
So, marketers, brands and the humans behind them, take note. If you speak your mind in a calm and intelligent fashion with logic, you can find your kin who will also become a worthy customer of your products, services and brand. Will this happen overnight? No, but with consistency comes success for the long haul.
Let’s wear our perspective on our sleeve and sell spices, shall we?
