Flavors of Change
During this time period (1990-2010) yerba mate truly began to flourish. One of the more important moments for yerba mate, the founding of the Guayakí company, kicked this off in 1996.
One of the more effective strategies that yerba mate company, Guayakí, utilized during this time period can be seen on their packaging. What was a point of contention in earlier yerba mate sales is stated clearly on the box as not a problem anymore, as the boxes display USDA and Fair Trade certifications. Along with mending the credibility problem of the earlier versions of yerba mate, these boxes use several creative strategies like a logo, some eye-catching designs, and fun names. According to WowHow, an advertising and animation company, associative bonds (eg. logos), composition of the images, and repetition are some of the most important factors to effective visual advertising (“11 Commonly Used Techniques in Visual Advertising” 2020). Another important change that yerba mate made in this time period was flavor. The founding of the company Guayakí came with a groundbreaking change in yerba mate: flavors. Yerba mate comes from an herb, so it is found in one flavor only. This is what is was sold as until Guayakí decided to change to game. US consumers love variety and this is what the flavors gave them which brought more consumers into try the product.
As seen in this promotion in Redbook, a Women’s Magazine, the audience was still very split on whether yerba mate was a product worth purchasing. A key component that audiences tend to appreciate in advertisements is “make sure your message is ethical and truthful” (Nelson 2021). This ad gives both the negative and positive reactions to the yerba mate which gives the ad an err of truthfulness, but one of the main problems with this ad, and many others around this time is text. A main component of an effective advertisement is being able to keep your audience's attention, and text usually works against this goal. According to Jayden Pire of Protocol 80 Inc., a marketing and manufacturing blog, text in advertisements should be “simple and easy to understand” and paragraphs also should be “short so they don’t look like a chore to read” (Pire 2020). While this ad does a great job of using simpler language it is very long. They do a good job of emphasizing the important parts, but all together the promotion employs some worthwhile strategies and some that are not as effective.
As a Whole
It is evident that during from the last time period to this time period several changes were made. Eye catching designs were created along with flavors that gave the consumers variety and choice in what they were buying. Positive reviews like the one seen in Redbook made it clear that public opinion is starting to change, even if negative reviews still exist as well.