Reminders That a Cookie Goes Beyond the Fig

     NABISCO, creator of the Fig Newton, decided to take on a new marketing strategy. In recent years, the company has seen declines in the sales for four consecutive years of one of its oldest products the Fig Newton. The Fig was widely advertized with the help of actor James Harden as "Big Fig" during the 1970's. Since then there hasn't been such a craze for the now termed "Newton" due to its narrow horizontal product differentiation. It has kept the same few flavors and has kept the same bland design which has lead to it becoming an inferior good to other more popular substitute products.
     In order to combat this constant decline, NABISCO has proposed a new version of the Newton. These include various flavors of the original Newtons as well as the new "Fruit Thins" cookie product. They also have used new advertizing slogans and approaches to broadcast their new flavors and nutritional facts about their product. By using a new look and using more healthy ingredients, they give their products a better, more "adult" look to attract more customers, as well as provide small health benefits to their consumers as a positive externality. While the new marketing strategy has lead to some sales moving to their other products giving their Newton products more differentiation and making them more fruit based has proved benificial for NABISCO.