When was the last time you heard John Lennon's Instant Karma?
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev'ryone come on.
Instant Karma's gonna get you!
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev'ryone come on.
Instant Karma's gonna get you!
I'm not sure if Howard Shultz is a Lennon fan, but he sure hopes that the recently announced entry of his Starbucks Via brand of instant, or should it be soluble, coffee, is gonna get you anywhere, anytime. Or, as he says in his Huffpost blog - imagine a cup of Starbucks Via ready brew on a mountain top.
Via will initially be available in 3 single serve packs ($2.95) or 12 ($9.95). Two flavors - Columbian or Italian Roast, at Starbucks stores, Target, and Costco.
Chicago and Seattle will be the initial test markets. For the impatient, there is always on-line ordering from starbucks.com. But wait, it will not ship till March 3.
Chicago and Seattle will be the initial test markets. For the impatient, there is always on-line ordering from starbucks.com. But wait, it will not ship till March 3.
Will Instant Via get you?
I have a vested interest in whether it will or not. Being an ex-Nestle brand manager, us Nestle folk, both current and alums, are very touchy about wannabes encroaching our turf. We think we own instant coffee. We do! Remember Nescafé? The world's first real instant coffee brand launched in 1938.
I have a vested interest in whether it will or not. Being an ex-Nestle brand manager, us Nestle folk, both current and alums, are very touchy about wannabes encroaching our turf. We think we own instant coffee. We do! Remember Nescafé? The world's first real instant coffee brand launched in 1938.
Shultz is positive that Via will woo, wow, and win customers. At a Feb. 17 promotional event in NY, he brushed aside the skeptics, saying that this is not the instant coffee our mothers and grandmothers drank. He promised that Via would surprise and delight its customers.
Now whenever an iconic brand strays from the script written for it by sound- byte hungry business gods and gurus you know the fallout is going to be vicious. Remember how the marketing police absolutely ripped Mercedes-Benz when it introduced the A-class and M-class SUV models. The doom merchants predicted a serious dilution of brand equity and a quick demise of these models. May their souls R.I.P. because none of this ever happened. For the record, Mercedes-Benz recently unveiled redesigned 2009 models for both the A-class and M-class.
So, what are the prognostications for Via? Personally, I think its a smart business move, for the following reasons:
- It's a customer-driven innovation consistent with our troubled times. Out of economic necessity and on account of life-style choices consumers are redefining value in favor of smaller quantities and lower prices - Via fits right in.
- It's a portfolio extension in the right direction - more of the same would not have created incremental value for current or potential customers.
- It adds new usage dimensions to the brand experience, by appealing to market segments that would like to experience Starbucks in non-store, non-office environments; in-home, on the go, on a mountain top.
- It simplifies the brand-assortment choice. Feature bloat, that makes brand or brand variety choices excessively complex, actually turns away customers. A large number of people who shun Starbucks because of the perceived complexity of ordering a simple cup of coffee, may be willing to give the brand a try. Roland Rust at UMD had an interesting article on this in the HBR a few years ago.
There is cause for concern as well:
Envelope please: the winner, Via Italian Roast. Second, third, and fourth - Via Columbian Roast, Starbucks freshly brewed, and Medaglia D'Oro, respectively. As an ex-Nestle Brand Manager, I have to protest Dan. No Taster's Choice!?
Now you can add one more thing to your list of things not to leave home without. First Karl Malden and American Express taught us not to leave home without the Amex card and TC's. Now Howard Shultz would like you to add Via to your pockets. As it says on the back of its stylish, put-in-your-shirt-pocket packaging: never be without great coffee!
- The key being price-value perception; its packaging may not ooze value for money, especially for the higher pack size
- Instant coffee drinkers are used to opening jars and seeing their coffee as powder. I do believe that creates a more positive price-value perception than Via, where the product lies hidden in single serve packs.
- Single serve packs have done well for Tea, they have not served the coffee category well.
- Target and Costco is good, but why no grocery stores? Perhaps it will be distributed there and we just haven't been told.
Envelope please: the winner, Via Italian Roast. Second, third, and fourth - Via Columbian Roast, Starbucks freshly brewed, and Medaglia D'Oro, respectively. As an ex-Nestle Brand Manager, I have to protest Dan. No Taster's Choice!?
Now you can add one more thing to your list of things not to leave home without. First Karl Malden and American Express taught us not to leave home without the Amex card and TC's. Now Howard Shultz would like you to add Via to your pockets. As it says on the back of its stylish, put-in-your-shirt-pocket packaging: never be without great coffee!
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