Since 1912, Oreo has had a simple recipe for success: two chocolate cookies with one layer of cream.

But since 2012, they have released 65 New Flavors.

And they’re not slowing down anytime soon.

Is it because they’re trying to find a new flavor to surpass the success they had with their original?

It’s actually the opposite.

Going back to the original

In a new interview with The New York Times, Justin Parnell, the senior director of the Oreo brand, revealed that the reason the company is continuously rolling out new flavors is to actually draw consumers back to its plain, original cookie.

"When we do it well, it drives our classic Oreo cookie, as well as the sales of the limited edition," Parnell said of releasing limited-edition flavors.

He explained that when going to the store, many consumers will "pick up that classic Oreo variety that they love, in addition to the limited edition."

New ways to grab attention

There’s two ways to market your brand in the food industry.

1. Spend more money on advertisements that say the same thing but in different ways

2. Get people excited with new flavors

Oreo chose option #2 and it’s worked out well for them.

According to Nielsen, sales of the flavored, novelty and seasonal Oreos were up by 12% over the last three years. Even more, sales of the original cookie were up almost 22%.

Key takeaways for your brand

Oreo’s strategy was to keep the attention on them.

That’s really hard to do when you’ve been selling the same product for over 100 years.

Constant ads and commercials about people eating Oreos won’t get people excited. Even celebrity endorsements get old and not believable.

But something new and exciting? That’s what gets people talking.

New flavors are something that can be brought up in conversations. And even if someone hasn’t tried or is unwilling to taste the new flavors, they may say to someone “It’ll never be better than the original flavor.”

Which can then spark a taste test, where they end up buying more Oreo packages.

So don’t be boring, bring something new to your product line to compare to the original.