When the Financial Times starts using the REESE'S brand as a case study for "skimpflation," the conversation has officially moved out of the candy aisle and into the boardroom of The Hershey Company. For months, I’ve raised a simple governance question: What happens to a flagship brand like REESE'S when its extensions quietly drift away from the REESE'S ingredients that built its trust? The Financial Times now answers it plainly: The REESE'S line extension sprawl isn’t just a marketing choice; it’s a risk vector. A risk to the REESE'S brand equity. A risk to REESE'S consumer trust. A risk to REESE'S long‑term value creation. The Hershey Company continues to insist that "a broad offering of choices" strengthens REESE'S. But when so many of those offerings rely on chocolate‑style coatings and peanut‑butter‑style cremes, the issue isn’t variety. It’s veracity. This is the inflection point. Not for nostalgia. For governance, because the REESE'S brand is a promise. When the ingredients of REESE'S change, the REESE'S promise changes. And when the REESE'S promise changes, the market notices, as it should. My position remains unchanged: Protect REESE'S core. Protect REESE'S integrity. Protect the REESE'S trust that built the orange wrapper into a global icon. The Financial Times has now put that question squarely on the table. Boards, investors and REESE'S consumers will decide what happens next. What's your take? https://lnkd.in/ets_PMHG #FT #FinancialTimes #Reeses #TheHersheyCompany #BrandIntegrityCrisis #IngredientTruth #SkimpflationExposed #ConsumerTrustBreach #GovernanceFailure #FlagshipAtRisk #MarginEngineering #ValueDestruction #BoardAccountabilityNow
Glen Loveland
1mo
Look, I’ll be honest—when I first jumped into this, I was coming at it from a pure flavor standpoint: the pieces just hit different, and I love them. But hearing you lay it out like that, it clicks. You’re right. It’s not about being a purist for the sake of it; it’s about protecting the thing that made us fall in love with it in the first place. When you f--- with the ingredients, you’re not just changing a snack, you’re changing the emotional payload of that orange wrapper. That moment on the couch? That memory of Halloween as a kid? That’s real. So yeah, Brad—keep the pressure on. Keep the board honest. Because once that promise breaks, you can’t just take it back. You lose the soul.
Ivo Petroff
1mo
Brad Reese it’s a structural problem. Fragmentation of assortments as driver of growth is obsolete and frankly no longer adequate strategy. This approach replaces improving efficiency per SKU with adding more SKU‘s. Completely missing contemporary customer and market dynamics.
Nick Karavidas
1mo
“…because the REESE'S brand is a promise.” At its core, this a statement of ‘cornerstone philosophy’ for all brands and branding. Trust is at the center and authenticity is tested “When words and actions do not align”. We have several new generations of consumers who are testing the moral fabric of our brands and looking for reasons to reject brands and branding that fail the sniff test.🤧
Jay David
1mo
Line extensions. Don’t get me started. Many times you can’t find the regular Reese’s at the store because there are a dozen other versions. My wife loves Waterloo soda water. They now have about 20 versions out. Hard to find her favorite. We had to hit three stores today to find it. You cannot tell me that the incremental sales are worth the production and supply chain complexity.
Scott Reed
1mo
🪘🎶🪘🎶🪘🎶
Robert Ruffner
1mo
I believe that you have pretty much nailed it, Brad!
The Feastables vs REESE'S Taste Test with Gordon Ramsay has 462 million views, 7.6 million likes and 22,592 comments: https://youtu.be/ZGvn9ywXjpY?si=8X0UqAZzS8PTkrLY