The Brilliant “Freshness Verified” Positioning

Last week the supermarket cart and I were swooping after my wife in Harris Teeter when I saw a big banner over the produce bins. Didn’t think much about it at first.  The sign said  ”FRESHNESS VERIFIED!” Sounded smart, perfectly reasonable, a value-driven differentiator, implies you can take the freshness of Harris Teeter produce to the bank. Good idea. 

Now there’s a customer promise to strike fear in the hearts of every other competitor in town.  How could any prudent customer even think about buying produce whose freshness was UNVERIFIED! Then I did a mental double take, ”Freshness Verified” by whom? Did they have a freshness verifying department headed up by a Manager Of Freshness Verification? Where do they verify it, on the truck that brings it in? Or when it finally hits the cooler in the back, or after it’s been in the produce showcases a while? I asked the produce guy what’s with this freshness verified thing, he said “We make sure it’s fresh.” I asked how they go about it, he said “You can tell whether it’s fresh or not and if it’s not fresh we don’t put it out.” I thanked him for the information and thanked my lucky stars that the freshness of the iceberg lettuce my wife confidently thrust into the cart was VERIFIED. I feel well cared for now, one less thing to worry about.