Kraft Ditching Nabisco Brand? Looks Like It.

Nabisco Wheat ThinsKraft ditching Nabisco?

Frankly, that’s a bit of a scary headline for us brand fiends here at BrandlandUSA. But it is certainly worrisome that the company was selling this bag of Wheat Thins without Nabisco in the corner. Is Kraft (NYSE: KFT) dropping the Nabisco brand, just like they ditched the storied and valuable General Foods brand? And that’s on top of their cheesy new logo that no one likes.

The missing logo means one thing. If there is no Nabisco in the corner, there is no quality in the corner. Certainly, it’s an attractive package, and the Wheat Thins were tasty as always, but we many be buying them again unless we have the red Nabisco symbol in the corner. We don’t trust Wheat Thins without Nabisco red, and neither should any other readers. Frankly, Kraft’s stock has been stuck in a rut since 2002, and we don’t think ditching Nabisco will help.

There could be any number of reasons why they are separating Nabisco from Wheat Thins, including it being a trial. But it is a mistake, as we pointed out in our story, Nabisco Brand Advice Corner.

  1. To see how Wheat Thins sell without the red Nabisco label. If they sell O.K., then Kraft could value the Wheat Thins brand as a separate line or brand from Nabisco. Our response: This is an interesting trial of an idea, a trial balloon, but please put the Nabisco back, thank you. And frankly, the packaging looks nice, so there is no reason why it wouldn’t sell well. But the red Nabisco logo has nothing to do with it.
  2. Because they think Nabisco is fuddy duddy. If that’s the case, and somehow packaging tests better without it, you all have made the brand fuddy duddy and you need to fix it. There is nothing fuddy about Nabisco; it’s like Coca-Cola. Nabisco is classic. Nabisco is America. Nabisco is the National Biscuit Company, thank you, and I will have no other.
  3. Because they might turn Nabisco into a brand itself, and launch new products. That would be odd. As odd as Mac and Cheese branded crackers, btw. But they are doing it; Kraft just turned Nabisco into a classics line, with decent generic cookies iced and animal cookies sold under the brand Nabisco Classics. This is fine, but it is a downgrade, and evidence they are demoting Nabisco.
  4. Because they are going to spin off either Nabisco or Wheat Thins, and need to separate the two brands.
  5. Because a graphic designer got a bee up his you-know-what, and thought his pretty little design was too great to be cluttered up with a funny red symbol in the corner.

So here’s the deal Kraft. If I am going to trust a cracker and a cookie from your company, I need a Nabisco label on it. Otherwise, it’s Keebler, Sunshine, Pepperidge Farm, Carr’s or a store brand. And by the way, Kellogg’s makes Sunshine Hydrox now. So if you take the Nabisco off the Oreos too, we’ll have to switch there, too.

Do not drop the Nabisco corner.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

5 Comments

  1. no moderation for them since they like to stick it to us all!!!!

  2. Go ahead Kraft!
    Drop the good brands reputations for “Made in Mexico” like you screwed up the quality of Life Savers. No gloss-Mostly broken-Minimal flavor!!

    All due to your cheapness and removing jobs and reputations of a great American oldie but goodie. Won’t be buying your stuff ever again!!!

  3. My take on the elimination of the white Nabisco border is the first step to make the red triangle less conspicuous,so that WHEN Kraft phases out the Nabisco brand,it will cause less of a stir.The triangle without the white border gets “lost” on many packages like Ritz.And on commercials,the Nabisco brand is hardly mentioned.I think the Kraft people are stupid for doing this.

  4. I was hoping you meant they were spinning it off so it could be independent again (which would be wonderful!) I don’t believe that Kraft would do such a stupid thing. Nabisco is equal or greater in recognition than Kraft. Also, they just updated the Nabisco corner, eliminating the unnecessary white frame. Surely they aren’t THAT dumb as to remove “Nabisco”–that would be outrageous!

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