I was reading an industry magazine when I saw this ad. I have seen them in the past, but for some reason this one caught my attention (nice work advertising team for Kraft). What took me back was that this advertisement was not for a brand which was under the Kraft umbrella, but rather completely geared towards investors.
While I don’t own any individual Kraft stock, if I had to guess I probably own it within a mutual or index fund. Notwithstanding my lack of direct investment in the company, I had two conflicting thoughts when I saw this ad:
- On the one hand, it could bring new investors which would increase my investment. If everything stays the same more people interested in the firm could drive share prices up.
- While on the other hand, why does Kraft care? Do they need more investor attention? If so, why?
Am I over-thinking the ad?
It’s all about brand image. Yes, they care about the product’s brand image, but they also care about the brand image of Kraft itself because if the public has a negative view of the overall brand, then there is a potential trickle down effect into product sales across the board.
I would think you are over thinking the ad. I don’t know which magazine it was in, but maybe an ad like that does reach out to the right demographic in that publication? Maybe because it’s such an old strong company it almost becomes invisible? Like a cornerstone stock like P&G. It’s like “hey don’t forget were still here”.
Your Blog has ads within it. The Reit one for example. That seems to be in a lot of places in print and on the web. Who’s to say it’s in the right place or not too? It’s visibility, get it out there.
I’m a little weird about it too. I think it’s because I believe that company’s stock should track things like profits rather than reflect a popularity contest in the investing community.