I like the passive-aggressive tone of the open letter in the url below from the co-CEOs of Clif Bar (Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford) to the CEO of KIND Bar (Daniel Lubetzky). The letter appeared as a full-page ad in The New York Times on March 6, 2019:
"Dear Daniel, We would like to issue a challenge: do a truly kind thing and make an investment in the future of the planet and our children's children by going organic. To make it easier, we at Clif Bar & Company will help you. We know how strange this offer sounds coming from a competitor, but more than ever we believe that making the world better means making it organic."
In reality, of course, the letter is a way for Clif Bar to emphasize the move they made to 100% organic ingredients a number of years ago and differentiate that from KIND Bar's reluctance to do so today:
"Going organic isn't easy, we know. But in 2003, we broke with conventional business wisdom and decided to take what initially seemed to be a huge risk. The investment required more people, time and money. Despite those challenges, this year we celebrated the purchase of our billionth pound of organic ingredients and continue our relentless quest to move from our current 76% organic ingredients to 100%."
As they continue to gloat:
"So much more still needs to be done. Despite our success, organic food represents only about 5% of retail food sales in the U.S. It's become a mission for us to champion the power of organic and move that needle, and not by a little. That's why we're also the largest private funder of organic research in the country and why we're issuing this challenge—we can't do it alone."
The passive-aggressive approach continues:
"If Clif Bar and KIND—the two largest nutrition bar companies in the country—joined hands, the impact would be that much more powerful. And if we then got RXBAR (Kellogg's), LÄRABAR (General Mills), and all the other non-organic brands to go organic, the benefits to people and planet would be exponential. Maybe a move to organic would even inspire your part-owner Mars to take its entire line of candy organic. Stranger things have happened."
It seems the feud between the two firms is long-standing and only escalating:
Of course, the key point to understand is why these other bars have not yet gone to all organic ingredients. Could it be because they are not progressive enough to understand the (largely perceived) nutritional value of doing so? Or, could it be that their stakeholders are not willing to pay the higher costs to reduce the damage large agricultural companies do to the planet? In this light, is Clif Bar's exhortation as philanthropic as they suggest or a somewhat desperate attempt to raise the costs of their competitors?
"If you commit to this challenge, we will share our expertise, including all the things we have learned about going organic. Think of it as 'Open Source Organic.' To sweeten the deal, we will even throw in 10 tons of organic ingredients. Are you in?"
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020
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An Open Invitation to KIND Bar from Clif Bar
By Gary Erickson & Kit Crawford (Founder and co-CEOs of Clif Bar & Company)
March 6, 2019
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
A24
