Do You Like Soap In Your Coffee?

Have you ever wondered why we like certain things but not others? And sometimes the reason makes little sense.

Recently I was in an office where I was offered some coffee. I was shown the coffee pot and was told to mix in my desired level of sweetener and creamer. I had to pause when I reached for the creamer. It was the artificial kind. I’m not a coffee snob so I had no problem using the cheap stuff.

But what freaked me out was the container. The creamer was in a gel concentrated form. It was in a jug with a plastic spout that you’d have to push down on to make it come out. Basically it’s the same setup that’s used to deliver liquid soap or hand lotion. And something about that just seemed weird.

I couldn't get over this delivery system. It seemed like how you'd feel if you opened an egg carton and saw hamburgers. It just wasn't right.

In my mind I know that this packaging is probably more environmentally sound. But deep down, I can't shake the feeling that creamer is either a liquid or a powder. I drank the coffee with the creamer and it tasted fine. Still I felt something was wrong with the drink. I doubt I would have felt that way if someone else had prepared the coffee for me and I'd never seen the gel.

I wonder what other hang ups we may have where we feel strongly about something, even though it's not that big of a deal.

McDonalds Sips Into Success...

Recently, I opened a magazine and noticed a four page glossy advertisement from McDonalds. The interesting thing about the ad is that it had nothing to do with hamburgers, Big Macs, or fries. Instead the spread promoted the fast food chain's new speciality coffees.

In a lot of ways, it makes sense for McDonalds to aggressively pursue the coffee market. Some may want a cappuccino that falls below Starbuck's price point. McDonalds are also located all over the place (I've been told that if you're looking for a good location for a business, see where McDonalds is as that spot has been heavily researched.) so access is not a problem. And, the company already had a lot of fans of its traditional coffee (Except those who claimed in lawsuits that they were burned by the hot liquid but that's another story).

This will likely be a good example of a company extending its brand into new areas. As thing stand, I'm doubtful that it can generate much more revenue through just hamburger sales. So a company looks to see what other services it can deliver.

McDonalds has long tried to expand its product line and sometimes it hasn't worked out so well. Remember McPizza and the McDLT?

Widening a brand can be a risky proposition as is mentioned in the book, Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time. To find out more about the book, click here. I found it to be an enjoyable read. It's easy to see, in hindsight, how many bad product decisions were made. Of course the need for more market share has long seduced executives into going too far away from what they do well.