The importance of being good

Last week Chartreuse discussed the importance of the overall experience to certain brands like Starbucks Coffee.

One of the most interesting business fights to watch is the one between Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.

What really makes it interesting is that Starbucks is not really fighting back.

Because they know something the Dunkin Donut executives don’t.

Nobody goes to Starbucks to buy coffee.

People are buying the experience.

Because of that Starbucks is able to successfully sell music, movies and practically anything else they want.

In the comments, a discussion ensued on how Starbucks successfully leverages that brand and how it applies to other comapnies. I said...

So sell the brand. Sell the experience.

Nike’s batting gloves are crap. Franklin, the lower-class sporting goods maker, makes a much better product. But Franklin’s considered low-end and Nike is hip and all the kids hang out there. So guess which gloves all the kids want? .Watch a pro game closely and be amazed at how many pros wear Franklin—they want the better product and screw the image.

Starbucks doesn’t make great coffee. People who care about coffee don’t go there. People who care about Starbucks do. And then they pretend they care about coffee.

...

You still need to be good. You just don’t need to be great.

Starbucks is good. Nike’s batting gloves are good. They just aren’t great. But the masses don’t care.

Chartreuse replied...

It’s the Brand that matters, not what they do. What you failed to metion was that they can do practically anything with the brand, as long as it’s the best. And the truth is, fowill think it’s good anyway.

And finally, me again...

Future extensions don’t have to be the best. They simply have to be better than average. People will assume they’re the best beacuse of the strong brand identity. ... The music they sell is all pretty good. Some of it is fantastic. But it’s not all the best.

So today, I read the news via Brand Autopsy that Starbucks is shutting down the CD burning stations they have in some stores. In an email exchange with Brand Autopsy, the reporter says...

Starbucks has been successful because it made the coffee experience uncommonly better. So uncommonly better that we gladly pay a premium for it. Using that mindset, the Starbucks CD-burning stations have been unsuccessful because they failed to make the music download experience uncommonly better.

The Starbucks consumer might buy a CD at Starbucks because the compilation is good, the artist is good, and the CD has the Starbucks brand. But when they burn a CD, they aren’t getting the Starbucks experience, they’re getting one of their own creation. And they can do that at home with downloaded songs and the CD burner on their computer.