Do You Speak Food Marketing?

I just read an article interviewing Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods, (Ahh, so that explains the current price of Blue Box Mac-N-Cheese!) that mentioned the terms “usage occasion” and “share of stomach,” and it reminded me of how interesting food-industry Marketese can be. Sure food scientists toss around such esoteric terms as “organoleptic” and “slurry,” but at least you can find them in the dictionary. Or at least in textbooks.

My all-time favorite popped up a number of years ago in a meeting I attended discussing line extensions for the E.L. Fudge cookie products: “elfin equity”…something about the value of the image of the iconic Keebler elves. (Today’s useless bit of trivia: After the success of the E.L. Fudge brand, many people believe that the paterfamilias of the Keebler elf family, Ernie, is named E.L. Fudge. Not true; it’s short for Everybody Loves Fudge, which produces the handy acronym of ELF.)

I haven’t heard a good one for a while, so if you have your own marketing buzzword favorites, please share here.

   -Lynn A. Kuntz