Discoveries for Creative Development
Introduction
As a brand, Krispy Kreme prides itself on its playful character and has traditionally hinged its marketing on the creation of “crave-worthy” products, sharing, celebration and a sense of child-like wonder. This report was written to provide useful, relevant, and insightful information to assist my marketing team in addressing the brief provided by Krispy Kreme in the most innovative, creative and effective way possible. The aim of the project is the creation of a “buzz-worthy” limited-edition doughnut range and marketing campaign that will serve to pique consumer interest and curiosity, ultimately leading to an increase usage in light and lapsed customers. The target market for this brief has been identified a young, university-aged adults in Australia.
Discovery Task
The relationship between culture and sugar involves a long and dynamic history marked various shifts in attitude and behavioural engagement (Fischler, 1987).
This report was based upon an analysis of the manner in which sweet treats and doughnuts appear within mass culture, from both global and Australian perspectives. Within it, I explore how doughnuts and sweet treats are represented within popular culture through a contrast and comparison of findings. Further, I investigate the history of the relationship between Australians and sweet treats, current trends in this relationship, and the social and economic trends that may have been responsible for them. To do this, I implemented first a study of the various definitions of ‘popular culture’ upon which I based the scope of my analysis. The report includes findings from primary and secondary research, including a small-scale structured questionnaire and desk research around these topics.
Discoveries
1. Simplicity, Nostalgia and Do-It-Yourself
In investigating the representation of home-made sweet treats within Australian popular culture through this lense, a clear trend emerged of a simplicity and DIY aspect to the sweet treats mostly deeply engrained, cherished and mythologised within the shared patrimony of the Australian psyche. This can be observed within data from the questionnaire in which participants aged 19-29 included Fairy Bread and ‘Frog-in-a-Pond’ (Appendix A) amongst the sweet treats they would classify the most ‘nostalgic’ and ‘classically Australian’. Further research led me to an article by popular American internet pop-culture commentator BuzzFeed which listed ‘Spiders’ and ‘Ice Cream with Milo’ amongst some of Australia’s favourite culinary customs (Bassi, 2020). Such foods clearly involve a strong ‘DIY’ characteristic and simplicity in their combination of one house-hold ingredient (ice-cream, jelly, bread) with a store-bought or branded product (Cadbury ‘Freddo Frog’, Coke or Kirks Creaming Soda, Milo, 100s and 1000s). This notion, coupled with renovation tv show The Block being ranked amongst Australia’s most-watched tv programs in 2021 by Media Week, achieving a total viewer count of 1.619 million (Thomas, 2021), suggests a strong proclivity to DIY philosophy in Australian popular culture.
2. Trends in Australian Dessert-Culture
The popularity of cooking shows like MasterChef Australia, placing 7th on a report of Australia’s Top 20 Program ratings for Free-to-air television in 2022 (Compare TV, n.d.) and the impact of social media on cultural food preferences have resulted a boom in Australian dessert culture (Goodman, 2021). This trend is characterised by an increase in specialty, boutique and mobile dessert stores which place emphasis on making dessert an experience within itself. Such can be observed in the rise of boutique doughnut chains Short Stop and Donut Time, both embraced by the Australian public. Additionally, sweet treat brands tend to perform best when they adapt to consumer demands. Australian mobile dessert chain Knafeh provides a pertinent case study, a popular brand who found success by tapping into the “after dinner market” after finding options for entertainment and specialty dessert experiences were limited in Sydney (Goodman, 2021).
3. An absence of representation
In contrasting the presence of doughnuts within American media and the meaning associated with them in American mass culture, doughnuts are still seen as distinctly separate to Australian culture despite placing third after cheesecake and cookies in Australia’s favourite sweet treats (Cartwright, 2022). Data from the questionnaire I conducted also revealed that most participants still associated the doughnut with American culture and classic representations of it in American Hollywood films. Such representations have an extended history in Hollywood and generally involve associations between ‘the donut’ and working- class culture and American male (Vlahov, 2020). As such, it is interesting to observe that Australian culture seems less inclined to accept doughnuts in the same manner they have other articles of American material pop-culture such as film, music and fashion. They manifest within Australian culture as an adaptable novelty, demonstrated by the popularity of boutique doughnut stores.
4. TikTok and Food Virality
Despite having placed 7 thin popularity in a 2022 ranking of the most popular social media platforms globally (Statista, 2022), TikTok has displayed enormous potential to influence food trends, over half of Google’s top trending food searches stemming from TikTok in 2021 (Campisi, 2022). The platform’s influence is particularly relevant when considering the target market for the brief and the platform’s status as being most popular amongst young Australians under 30 (Roy Morgan, 2020). Furthermore, 4 out 6 participants within this age group indicated regular usage within the questionnaire. As such, it is worth considering the ‘viral food phenomenon’ of TikTok and the manner in which sweet treats are represented on the platform.
Implications
1. Align the product with Australian cultural values to increase engagement and incite a strong emotional response in the target market.
I believe that consideration of the Australian preference toward simplicity, the do-it-yourself philosophy and nostalgia in sweet treats could be a valuable prompt in my team’s creative development of the limited-edition range. Krispy Kreme could assume the role of the branded product in the same model present in nostalgic and loved treats such as ‘Milo on Ice-cream’ by creating a range designed to be creatively paired with pantry staples such as those indicated within the results of the questionnaire (fruit, milk, chocolate). Using this as a prompt, the range and marketing campaign would be closely aligned with the playful curiosity, humour and child-like wonder already present within the brand’s identity. In doing so, Krispy Kreme could potentially go beyond the brief by not only boosting engagement with light and lapsed users but creating a memorable phenomenon, potentially facilitating long-term brand loyalty.
2. Cater to consumer demands and capitalise on trends.
My team would benefit by considering the popularity of the mobile, ‘after-dinner’ and speciality food experience in Australian dessert culture alongside a demand amongst the target market for greater late-night entertainment options as indicated within the questionnaire. An example of this could be the creation of a limited-edition range of doughnut flavours based on the preferred alcoholic beverages of the target market (e.g., Espresso Martini and Margarita), distributed in the form of a series of late-night food trucks in the metropolitan areas frequented by young Australians. Given this is an extremely localised approach, the distribution of food trucks would differ depending on where they’re located in Australia. The introduction of a ‘VB’ flavour could incite ‘reaction’ and ‘review’ content on social media whilst remaining on-brand with the humour already present in Krispy Kreme’s marketing.
3. Utilise virality to boost popularity of the brand to target market and the presence of Krispy Kreme in Australian popular culture.
An important element to consider in both the creative development of the doughnut range and marketing campaign would be the integration of an element of virality and ‘memeability’ in both. Doing so would allow Krispy Kreme to boost its presence in Australian popular culture through a series of memorable events. Choosing an approach in product design that hinges on the strange, funny, different, and exciting would elicit a strong emotional response and encourage review content. The popularity and influence of food-related content on a platform like TikTok presents a valuable marketing opportunity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there exists strong potential in these findings for my team to deliver a fun, interesting, buzz-worthy product and campaign that delivers on, responds to, and creatively challenges the brief. By remaining relevant and relatable to a young Australian market whilst leaning into the brand’s pre-established tone of humour, curiosity and child-like wonder we possess the capacity to re-align the brand with the contemporary Australian identity and boost its status in our own popular culture.
References
Bassi, I. (2020, January 22nd). 23 Australian Food Customs That Americans Will Find Very Confusing.
BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/ishabassi/australian-food-customs-rest-of-world-find- confusing
Campisi, V. (2022, March 23rd). TikTok is Becoming a Food Industry Influencer. The Food Institute. https://foodinstitute.com/focus/tiktok-is-becoming-a-food-industry-influencer/
Cartwright, L. (2022, January 24th). Australians have spoken, with new research revealing our
preferred baked good serves as a major snub to homegrown delicacies. News. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/australians-favourite-sweet-and-savoury-meals- revealed-in-surprising-new-research/news-story/757681c26cc30991d5cdf154989c0ca1
Compare Tv. (N.d.). TV Ratings: Shows trending in Australia. Compare TV. https://www.comparetv.com.au/australia-tv-ratings/
Fischler, C. (1987). Attitudes Towards Sugar and Sweetness in Historical and Social Perspective. In J.Dobbing (Ed.) Sweetness (pp. 83–98). Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4471-1429-1_6.
Goodman Fielder (2021, June 8th). Rise of the Sweet Stuff: Lessons From the Dessert Experts. Goodman
Fielder. https://www.gffoodservice.com.au/idea/rise-of-the-sweet-stuff-lessons-from-the-dessert-experts/
Roy Morgan. (2020). Nearly 2.5 million Australians using TikTok – up over 850,000 (+52.4%) during first half of 2020. http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8538-launch-of-tiktok-in-australia-
june-2020-202010120023
Statista. (2022). Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2022, ranked by number of monthly active users. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-
ranked-by-number-of-users/
Thomas, T. (2021). TV Ratings September 19, 2021: The Block is the top entertainment program with room reveal. Media Week. https://www.mediaweek.com.au/tv-ratings-september-19-2021-
the-block-is-the-top-entertainment-program/
Vlahov, A. (2020, June 6th). The Donut in Film History. Medium. https://medium.com/@vlahov.alexander/the-donut-in-film-history-84aef1a18e7c