Streit’s Matzo appears to have a marketing dilemma on its hand. As my dear nana would have said, “This should be every company’s biggest problem.”
William Levin and Michelle Citrin, the talented team at Jewish Robot have used Streit’s Matzohs in their brilliant video “20 Things to Do With Leftover Matzoh”, already a YouTube hit. The video has gone viral through email and WOM, and has been viewed more than 20,000 times on YouTube, and more than 85,000 times on Yahoo, since April 16. The special thanks on the video site say the matzos were provided by Streit’s, but there is no link to the video from the Streit’s website. Levin told me today in a phone call that “Streit’s is our paying sponsor.”
The email forwarded to me about the video by a friend said:
“This time of year matzah seems to get a bad rap with vicious rumors ranging from being accused of “tasting like cardboard” to “constipating folks for weeks”. Fed up with hearing such discriminatory remarks against matzah, and committed to bring about positive change, Michelle Citrin and William Levin have teamed up with Streit’s Matzah to bring you 20 things you can do with matzah. Won’t you please join our campaign of spreading the gospel o’matzah. Happy Passover. ” Did Jewish Robot send it to fuel the viral spread of the video? Dunno. Smart if they did.
It’s likely that Streit’s is fearful of backlash. The company has a very short annual window of opportunity for matzo sales, since the unleavened bread is the staple of Passover, but not part of the diet of most Jews during the rest of the year.
Anything that adversely affects business could be a disaster. However, since the video is adorable, funny, and basically tasteful, it’s hard to understand their fears. Maybe by next year Streit’s will feel more brave….
Suggestions for using matzo, from the Matzo Song lyrics, even make light of matzoh’s renowned, umm, digestive effects:
7. INSULATE
8. DECORATE
9. EXFOLIATE
10. CONSTIPATE?
The New York Times is among Jewish Robot’s other clients. What a wonderful find they are! Can’t wait to have an opportunity to hire them. Posted by B.L. Ochman
Bonus Link: Matzo Shortage Driving People Crackers
What’s great about Will and Michelle–aside from their obvious talent and creativity–is that they’re every bit as nice and generous as they are creative. Those of us lucky to have been their friends for a few years are SO thrilled that they’re finding such great success…