The Banana Chocolate Blend is tasty. The blend of the two flavors is nearly perfect. The consistency is very smooth, somewhat viscous, but not quite as much as panna cotta. It goes through a straw quite nicely.
The Starbucks store was all decked out, complete with writing on the windows and sidewalk chalk drawings heralding the arrival of the new “nutrition blend.” Free samples for everyone!
For four bucks, it’s a great lunch or a filling breakfast drink, but the Spoon probably won’t stand up for this flavorful concoction when it comes to marketing and merchandising.
It seems a bit “me-too” at a time when the company is supposedly getting back to core values and serving a really good cup of coffee…which they do quite well.
What do you think? Can you think of other examples where less-than-laser focus distracted a brand?
3 responses so far ↓
Brock // July 17, 2008 at 2:33 am
Dell lost focus. They had great B2B reputation and direct to consumer business model. However, they got too consumer cool for themselves. And their product line too broad for their own good. If in doubt, open retail stores. Oh wait, maybe think again.
Taylor Hunt // July 17, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Take a look back to the late 80’s and early 90’s Mongoose Bicycles. When I was a kid. Mongoose was the end all be all. As soon as they diversified and lost their “underground” stamina they were labeled “sell outs”. Actually quite true. Mongoose got bought by Pacific cycles, then purchsed by Dorel Corp. Mongoose bikes are now sold at target. The bikes themselves are probably even better quality but the brand has lost most all of it’s steam. Branding had been replaced by lower price points.
marketingspoonful // July 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Great comments. Thanks.
On the bike tip, Trek has successfully located a lower-quality bike by the same name in places like Dick’s Sporting Goods.
People know they’re not the same bike they’re going to get at a specialty bike shop, but they still want to ride what Lance rides.
The risk is over-extension, which is costly and usually caused by going after share points and volume at the expense of brand equity.