Cauliflower Shock Story

Well, it was a shock to Jo, one of my daughters. In one of her rare encounters with the kitchen, she was dismayed at how small the head of the cauliflower was in comparison to the leaves surrounding it.

She was so horrified she got me to take a photo of it and weigh the evidence. The pound coin and the baked beans are for scale reference only.

The edible head of the cauli was 288g and the leaves alone weighed in at 548g. I’m not sure who she thinks we should complain to.

Through a very narrow association (supermarkets) this got me pondering on recent supermarket adverts. ASDA claimed that they had over 2,000 items lower in price than Tesco. At the same time, Tesco had just over 200 items cheaper than ASDA. On this basis, ASDA were making themselves out to be the best.

This is a very interesting bit of positioning. You can see how the ASDA cauliflower got me here now.

The point firstly is do I want the 2,000 cheap ASDA items? Perhaps it is the 200 Tesco products at a better price that I want.

My second point is, are we after cheap or good value or a good experience? If the ASDA price claim is as powerful as they make out why are people going elsewhere? Why aren’t the queues always out the door?

Tesco was recently not advertising. This was to let word of mouth deliver their message virally. And here I am contributing to it! Good old Tesco.

Kevin Harrington

I’m a UK-based B2B marketing consultant, specialising in strategic advice for SME business owners. I bring extensive hands-on expertise to every client engagement. Senior leadership roles across technology, media, payments, and publishing have shaped my practical approach. Highlights include serving as Chief Marketing Officer at The Panoply plc (now TPXimpact), Chief Commercial Officer at Tungsten Network, and Global Marketing Director at BBC Worldwide. Over the years, I’ve guided numerous SMEs through transformation and value creation. Helping businesses evolve and thrive is a genuine passion. Practical marketing insights and succession planning strategies are at the heart of what I do, as I believe growing a business’s asset value should be a rewarding and positive journey for every entrepreneur.

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