Welch’s, Maxwell House Haven’t Passed Over the Chance to Create Brand Loyalty During Passover

Coffee brand Maxwell House was apparently into customer loyalty long before customer loyalty was cool. In 1923, it realized that Jews would drink tea with meals during Passover because there wasn’t a coffee certified as kosher. So, it changed that, got the kosher stamp of approval on its coffee cans, and created a piece of branded content to go with it that is still in use today.
 
The branded content it created was a Haggadah, a book that recounts the Exodus from Egypt through prayers, songs, and stories. It didn’t slap the Maxwell House logo all over it but made it available only inside a can of its coffee. Today, it’s the most popular Haggadah in the world, with more than 50 million printed.
 
Fast Company magazine looked at four reasons why the Maxwell House Haggadah is a perfect case study in branded content: It served the customer; it added value; it was organic and not intrusive; and it enabled communities and established new rituals. People still flock to the store to get a new Haggadah each year, the article noted—and a can of coffee as well.
 
Passover, by the way, runs from Friday, March 30 through Saturday, April 7, this year.
 
But Maxwell House, which is owned by Kraft Foodservice, isn’t alone in its targeted Passover efforts. With wine being a staple of the Seder dinners during Passover, parents would often offer grape juice as an option so their kids could learn the rituals.
 
Last year, Welch’s—the world’s largest grape juice brand—wanted to make sure it hit its target audience during Passover, so it partnered with kosher king Manischewitz, which helped gain additional kosher certifications, specifically to satisfy the very strict Orthodox communities.
 
Orthodox families often have multiple children, so grape juice is a hot commodity—and not just during Passover, but every Sabbath meal during the rest of the year.
 
The challenge is, Kedem is arguably the most popular kosher grape juice brand, and by Welch’s teaming up with Manischewitz—the world’s largest matzo manufacturer and a kosher wine and food producer—it’s set off a bit of a brand loyalty war.
 
The New York Times detailed the battle of Passover when 40 percent of all kosher products in the United States are sold.
 
In all, it’s about which brand doesn’t get passed over in the grocery aisle.

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