Wall Street Journal unveils commodization of pet food brands and The Brand Man gets coverage-by Eli

The Brand Man Speaks outed the pet food industry over the past six weeks....helping consumers understand that over 150 brands of pet foods they thought were unique, differentiated and  specifically relevant to their pets needs were in effect much more similar than dissimilar.

The Wall Street Journal unveiled the curtain on product commodization in the pet food industry exposing a case of wide-spread perceived deception of consumers in an article that appears today, (Read Wall St. Journal Story here). Yours truly is a quoted source in this expose.

Unfortunately the pet food crisis opened up a Pandora's box...many products are not produced by the brands and companies one thinks but rather in most cases by Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada.  We are all aware by now that poisoned protein spiked product ingredients were deliberately mixed in with pet food products killing as many as 4,000 pets nationwide.

The Wall Street Journal exposes a disturbing truth in today's marketing world...other than marketing and price many products are commodities....virtually the same....and consumer trust is being eroded by this news. Given that trust is a main component of successful brands, the concept of "branding" is under fire.

As a branding expert, I foresee the need for consumer package goods companies to be more authentic and truthful about the products they produce and forcing product manufacturing back in-house--increasing transparency-- to win back consumer trust.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli