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Heat Up Sales – With Coffee!

Meeting with a sales prospect in person for the first time? Think twice before you offer her a nice, ice-cold beverage. Instead, try a steaming mug of hot coffee to make the best impression. One of my favorite researchers, John Bargh of Yale University, found that the temperature of a beverage makes a difference in [...]

Loyalty Programs: Of Rats and Men

It seems like everyone has a loyalty program these days. Buy a cup of coffee, and you get a punch card that promises a free cup after you purchase some number of additional cups. Shop at the grocery store, and you get points to reduce the price of gas. Our wallets bulge with partially punched [...]

Caffeinated Branding: Think Inside the Cup

Way back in 2005, in Can Caffeine Brain Boost Help Ad Recall?, I suggested that Starbucks could sell potent ads on their cups. This idea, though tongue-in-cheek in nature, was based on fMRI research that showed caffeine stimulated areas of the brain associated with memory: Dr Florian Koppelstatter of the Medical University Innsbruck, Austria, found [...]

Coffee Smell Is All You Need

I’ve written about sensory branding, olfactory marketing, and in particular Starbucks’ attempt to get more coffee aroma into its stores. Now, it seems that all you need to get you going in the morning is a whiff of coffee aroma: Wake up and smell the coffee…yes, it’s the best way to cure tiredness. The researchers [...]

Simulating the Coffee Drinker’s Nose

Is Scratch ‘n Sniff Starbucks in our future? No industry focuses as much on olfactory marketing as the coffee business. Starbucks recently dumped its breakfast eggs because their smell didn’t pair well with the coffee aroma. Nestle unit Nespresso has not only modified its home brewing equipment to release more enticing smells, they have even [...]

Starbucks Trying to Cut Buyer Pain

As described many times here at Neuromarketing, paying for a product activates the brain’s pain center, particularly if the price seems too high to the person making the buying decision. Starbucks is the company that taught us that $5 for a cup of coffee (or at least for a skinny mocha peppermint latte with an [...]

Starbucks vs. McDonald’s: Coffee War Heating Up

Burger giant McDonald’s has the lucrative upscale coffee market dominated by Starbucks clearly in its sights. According to an AP report, McDonald’s Eyes Ballooning Coffee Market, After the success of its upgraded drip coffee – which even managed to snag a thumbs-up from testers at Consumer Reports earlier this year – the fast food chain [...]

Sensory Marketing to Jolt Espresso Sales

One of the keys to the phenomenal success of Starbucks has been that its stores offer a consistent and appealing sensory experience. The music, colors, and lighting are all important, but clearly the wonderful coffee aroma is what dominates one’s senses on entering a Starbucks outlet. I enjoy brewing Starbucks coffee at home, too, but [...]

Heat Up Sales – With Coffee!

Loyalty Programs: Of Rats and Men

Caffeinated Branding: Think Inside the Cup

Coffee Smell Is All You Need

Simulating the Coffee Drinker’s Nose

Starbucks Trying to Cut Buyer Pain

Starbucks vs. McDonald’s: Coffee War Heating Up

Sensory Marketing to Jolt Espresso Sales

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