What lessons can startups learn from the Pumpkin Spice Latte frenzy that occurs every year? originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question.
Answer by Jane Chin on Quora:
Capitalize on a Middle-with-Narrative-Potential.
Pumpkin spice latte was a "middle way" among popular and/or unique flavors. This ensured a critical minimum (mass) of audience who became evangelists of the product.
Sure, you can develop evangelists for extremes on the spectrum of flavors of your product, but you become limited by the scope of adoption of your product once the evangelists work their magic. Pumpkin spice latte had its evangelists, but was a flavor that most people would be curious about and at least be willing to try, versus something like "licorice spice latte".
On the other hand, chocolate and caramel flavors also fell in the middle, but there's not much unique narrative you can develop: enough chocolate and caramel -- and spinoffs -- exist. You'd have to work extremely hard to come up with a unique and memorable angle to yet another chocolate or caramel flavor.
If you're a start-up, work on the narrative potential of your offering, versus trying to make yet another version of a chocolate (or caramel or vanilla) flavored product or service. Once you have this:
Err on the Side of Organic Evangelism, Not Manufactured Hype.
Pumpkin spice latte comes but once a year. I'm sure I've had it at least once, and even though it wasn't so memorable that I create an annual repeating calendar event to remind myself to stop by Starbucks because PSL is here, whenever I hear Pumpkin Spice Latte, I think: "Wow, Autumn is really here!" even more than Peppermint Mocha makes me think: "Whoa, Winter has arrived."
Marketing around PSL includes typical social media hash tag (#PSL) and setting up a product (or service) specific social media account, but PSL evangelism was strong even before the drink had its own social media channels. PSL evangelism isn't as "in your face" (what I call "manufactured hype") as Amazon Prime Day was. I remember seeing my Facebook buddies express profound disappointment about Amazon Prime Day, and while I'm not a Prime Member, this made me think, "I'm glad I'm not missing much!"
Organic evangelism versus manufactured hype is a double-edged sword that I think Starbucks PSL falls more on the side of organic evangelism. When an in-your-face manufactured hype event falls short of expectations, customers and fans may experience greater disappointment than a warm fuzzy feeling around the "spirit of the season" that PSL's appearance embodies. The other face of this sword is that in-your-face hype gets more publicity and visibility and more people hear about it.
If you're a start-up, work on developing loyalty around your product or service, then pay attention to the drivers of loyalty for your product/service. Invest energy getting to know your core customers and influencers versus spinning some hype especially using a "we're going to replace/be better than" angle (like Amazon Prime Day tried to do).
Aim to Inspire a Trend
Successful acts beget parodies, successful products and services beget copycats. Starbucks' PSL inspired an entire "Pumpkin Spice" industry from candies to donuts to (not Starbucks) coffee to alcohol and perfume. Each instance further reinforces PSL's mythology as The One Drink To Rule Them All.
No lesson here, other than know that when your start-up has inspired copycats or parodies, you have arrived.
Read the history of this iconic drink: Pumpkin Spice Latte
This questionoriginally appeared on Quora. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google . More questions:
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Answer by Jane Chin on Quora:
Capitalize on a Middle-with-Narrative-Potential.
Pumpkin spice latte was a "middle way" among popular and/or unique flavors. This ensured a critical minimum (mass) of audience who became evangelists of the product.
Sure, you can develop evangelists for extremes on the spectrum of flavors of your product, but you become limited by the scope of adoption of your product once the evangelists work their magic. Pumpkin spice latte had its evangelists, but was a flavor that most people would be curious about and at least be willing to try, versus something like "licorice spice latte".
On the other hand, chocolate and caramel flavors also fell in the middle, but there's not much unique narrative you can develop: enough chocolate and caramel -- and spinoffs -- exist. You'd have to work extremely hard to come up with a unique and memorable angle to yet another chocolate or caramel flavor.
If you're a start-up, work on the narrative potential of your offering, versus trying to make yet another version of a chocolate (or caramel or vanilla) flavored product or service. Once you have this:
Err on the Side of Organic Evangelism, Not Manufactured Hype.
Pumpkin spice latte comes but once a year. I'm sure I've had it at least once, and even though it wasn't so memorable that I create an annual repeating calendar event to remind myself to stop by Starbucks because PSL is here, whenever I hear Pumpkin Spice Latte, I think: "Wow, Autumn is really here!" even more than Peppermint Mocha makes me think: "Whoa, Winter has arrived."
Marketing around PSL includes typical social media hash tag (#PSL) and setting up a product (or service) specific social media account, but PSL evangelism was strong even before the drink had its own social media channels. PSL evangelism isn't as "in your face" (what I call "manufactured hype") as Amazon Prime Day was. I remember seeing my Facebook buddies express profound disappointment about Amazon Prime Day, and while I'm not a Prime Member, this made me think, "I'm glad I'm not missing much!"
Organic evangelism versus manufactured hype is a double-edged sword that I think Starbucks PSL falls more on the side of organic evangelism. When an in-your-face manufactured hype event falls short of expectations, customers and fans may experience greater disappointment than a warm fuzzy feeling around the "spirit of the season" that PSL's appearance embodies. The other face of this sword is that in-your-face hype gets more publicity and visibility and more people hear about it.
If you're a start-up, work on developing loyalty around your product or service, then pay attention to the drivers of loyalty for your product/service. Invest energy getting to know your core customers and influencers versus spinning some hype especially using a "we're going to replace/be better than" angle (like Amazon Prime Day tried to do).
Aim to Inspire a Trend
Successful acts beget parodies, successful products and services beget copycats. Starbucks' PSL inspired an entire "Pumpkin Spice" industry from candies to donuts to (not Starbucks) coffee to alcohol and perfume. Each instance further reinforces PSL's mythology as The One Drink To Rule Them All.
No lesson here, other than know that when your start-up has inspired copycats or parodies, you have arrived.
Read the history of this iconic drink: Pumpkin Spice Latte
This questionoriginally appeared on Quora. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google . More questions:
- Business: What should all first-time entrepreneurs know?
- Startups: What are some startup ideas that frequently fail?
- Starbucks: What can people learn from working at Starbucks?
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
