preference for E & J. So we’ve been able to isolate what
Christian Brothers’ problem is. The problem is not the product
and it’s not the branding. It’s the package.” Rhea pulled out a
picture of the two brandy bottles as they appeared in those
days. Christian Brothers looked like a bottle of wine: it had a
long, slender spout and a simple off-white label. E & J, by
contrast, had a far more ornate bottle: more squat, like a
decanter, with smoked glass, foil wrapping around the spout,
and a dark, richly textured label. To prove their point, Rhea and
his colleagues did one more test. They served two hundred
people Christian Brothers Brandy out of an E & J bottle, and E
& J Brandy out of a Christian Brothers bottle. Which brandy
won? Christian Brothers, hands-down, by the biggest margin of
all. Now they had the right taste, the right brand, and the right
bottle. The company redesigned their bottle to be a lot more
like E & J’s, and, sure enough, their problem was solved.
Cheskin’s offices are just outside San Francisco, and after we
talked, Masten and Rhea took me to a Nob Hill Farms
supermarket down the street, one of those shiny, cavernous
food emporia that populate the American suburbs. “We’ve done
work in just about every aisle,” Masten said as we walked in. In
front of us was the beverage section. Rhea leaned over and