Interesting article from Sunday's NY Times (hat tip to Christopher). One of the authors of the article is Barry Schwartz, who has previously examined the impact of "choice" in today's climate. We continue to see a paradoxical relationship with choice, as we see brand extensions and offerings sometimes confusing and irritating consumers. Too much choice can end up meaning too much noise in the channel, so to speak, and some product cannibalization.
In a normal trip to grocery store, I too become frustrated with my traditional brands (Colgate, Coke, Minute Maid). I used to buy Colgate, red and white tube. Simple. It was easy and it was a social decision, as I was raised in a Colgate house (I was horrified at my first sleep over to find my friend's family was a "Crest" family). Then there was Colgate gel - hmm, gel or paste. Gel was OK, but Colgate paste was a friend.. Now there's Total, Lumenous, Simply White, etc. I need a mapping wizard to bring me from the old to the new. The same with Coke. Before it was Coke. Coke was it. Now, there's Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Coke with Lime, Diet Coke with Lime, Cherry Vanilla, Diet Cherry Vanilla, Zero, Coke Mascarpone, Coke Mascarpone with Hazlenuts etc. Minute Made, (part of the Coca-Cola company) has done the same thing, From one to many - with or without pulp, added vitamins, added calcium, etc. Perhaps we should debate the merits and faults of brand extensions later.
Perhaps too many choices prevent us from building communities around brands. Beyond frustrating consumers, we continue to cultivate a post-modern isolation. Without a strong parent or umbrella brand (and its brand equity), I think the bastardization of 1:1 marketing may be devaluing a brand rather than enhancing it.
However, I can see where choice, done in a manageable way, can help a consumer increase their connection to a brand. It is the pro-side of novelty (vs. redundancy). A great regional/micro brewer in the Twin Cities is Summit. Summit has a handful of varieties available at any given time they have about three to five beers on the shelf of the local liquor store. There are four beers available year-round and there are four seasonal brews - one for each season of the year. Like pitchers and catchers reporting to Florida and Arizona, a true sign of spring, for me, is the ability to buy Summit Mai Bock. The redundancy (reinforced experience, brand foundation) is enhanced by this manageable novelty a seasonal brew.
At times it's hard to argue with The Boss, "there's 57 channels and nothing's on."
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In a jam
From Motley Fool (hat tip to Angie).
What's your favorite kind of jam? Easy question, right? Not according to a study Malcolm Gladwell discusses in his fascinating book, Blink. In the experiment, researchers set up a booth in a California grocery store. Sometimes there were six flavors of jam for sale, sometimes 24. One might think that more choices would equal higher sales since buyers would be more likely to find their favorites among the offerings. In fact, the opposite was true. With just six options, 36% of the customers who stopped by the booth made a purchase. When they had 24 choices, only 3% of the shoppers bought.
Why? Well, according to Gladwell, too many choices often leave us paralyzed. Overloaded with information, we're more likely to become uncertain and make a bad decision -- or no decision at all
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