But what we should worry about is how easily the gluten free community is led to the marketing strategy of "Creating the Hype". It's completely understandable since you are grieving over the loss of tasting gluten that you hope beyond hope that a new product will deliver on taste when so many of them don't. However, the term "Creating the Hype" is why you probably do like we have done and pour money endlessly into "New" gluten free foods to taste that elusive gluten like product. Remember Charlie & The Chocolate Factory? The Golden Ticket?
The buzz through the gluten free wires right now is that Nature's Own bread manufacturers are testing their gluten free breads and making a go at the market. The catch is that they are only sending samples out to select people who happen to critique gluten free products and a small market in the grand scheme. They are also limiting the amount they make available even though they have already paid to add the options to their website - That's right - "Creating the Hype".
As quoted from a marketing lessons website: "Hype is a form of buzz marketing. Hyping a product pre-launch creates buzz which also creates curiosity and expectations. Bloggers write posts and the press writes news articles and releases. Before you know it the word gets out to thousands of people all hearing how great this new product is. This gets them excited and they can hardly wait to get their hands on it.
With Hype can also come backlash, it often over-inflates expectations. For example my wife had been telling me for weeks about this great breakfast place she found. She kept telling me it was the best place she had ever been to and I just ‘had’ to go. She was building hype. I couldn’t help but imagine this wonderful place where the food just melted in your mouth. In my mind it was going to be unlike anything I had ever experienced. Well, we had the chance to go the other day and I was extremely let down. It’s not that this place wasn’t any good, it just didn’t meet the expectations that had been set."
And that, my friends, is what this is all about.
Perhaps before you buy into the Hype, you might want to verify that the purchase is worth it. We won't know about Nature's Own for sure until it is more readily available. But trusted and respected review sites claim it is worth the standard market price on gluten free breads, so we'll likely buy into their bread after all. At least we'll be conscious of the fact and not blindly suckered into the purchase which never makes anyone feel good about spending their money.
