In 2003, when Starbucks hoped to create a new drink that could rival the success of their Peppermint Mocha, the Pumpkin Spice Latte was born. Today, as soon as the PSL, as its biggest fans lovingly refer to it, hits retail shelves, we know that autumn has arrived and it’s time to pull out our jackets and sweaters, and prepare for the holiday season.
This year, the PSL celebrated its 20th birthday, an impressive milestone for what is, perhaps, simply a flavored coffee beverage. So what shopper insights did the PSL team use to get there and stay there?
Understand Your Nostalgic Niche
For many North Americans, the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves wafting through the home signals a pumpkin pie baking in the oven and extended family members sharing memories around a real or televised fireplace. It reminds us of family togetherness and helps to launch the festive season. Pumpkin pie has become one of the most nostalgic scents we can experience and the PSL has leveraged that scent to the extreme.
Nostalgia can manifest in many forms and those brands hoping to evoke comforting, emotional memories in their consumers have many variations to choose from. As PSL does so well, marketing tactics from food and restaurant brands like Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and Cracker Barrel rely on childhood memories of baked goods, sweets, treats, and home-cooked meals lovingly prepared by grandmas, parents, and extended family. Other brands, like Coca-Cola, Hallmark, and Macy’s tie their brands to the nostalgia of meaningful family celebrations, perhaps birthdays, anniversaries, or Thanksgiving. And, relying on the nostalgia of family vacations from childhood works well for brands like Disney, Marriot, and National Geographic.
Incorporating supporting characters helps to solidify nostalgic moments. This could include bringing in childhood hobbies, games, or activities like Lego, Nintendo, or Super Mario Bros, or beloved characters from older TV shows or movies like Micky Mouse, Pikachu, or Spiderman. And when it’s relevant, it could mean reminding consumers to bring out photo albums and home movies so they can reminisce about old friends, homes, and schools.
By deeply understanding your target audience and their unique emotional foundations, brands can leverage deep emotions and profound memories to foster more meaningful and long-lasting engagement.
Create Cross-Category Applications
Pumpkin spice can also attribute some success to its ability to transcend shopper categories. Not just a delicious flavor for baked goods, snacks, tea, and coffee, it’s also a sought-after scent in personal care, home care, and car care products like body washes, candles, and car fresheners. Because of this cross-category applicability, the most recent data from Nielsen indicates that the pumpkin spice market accounts for more than $600 million in the USA. And MagnifyMoney has determined that pumpkin spice grocery and coffee products can be sold for an average of 14% more than their traditional flavored counterparts.
Every brand has a unique set of skills and expertise that can be re-imagined across multiple categories. For example, Nike understood that their expertise in producing athletic shoes and clothing could be applied to backpacks, fitness apps, and training videos. Samsung found massive success after extending their expertise in television electronics over to kitchen appliances, computing, and mobile devices.
Brands that want to reach the success of the PSL must identify what makes them truly unique and identify how to extend that success to complementary categories.
Establish Scarcity
The PSL may not be particularly rare nor scarce, but it is only available for a limited time. For 9 months of the year, people have no option but to patiently await September’s arrival. Similarly, every year, devotees anticipate the arrival of McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes, the McRib sandwich, and Cadbury’s Crème Eggs, eagerly descending on them when they arrive in store.
Particularly in this era of FOMO, people are drawn to limited edition products. The fear of missing out on a potentially exciting or exclusive opportunity makes them seek it out more urgently and sometimes even warrants paying a premium for it. Not having enjoyed that special item for nearly a year, they can once again savor it as a new and unique experience in their lives.
The buzz that consumers generate among their friends, family, and digital observers during the anticipation period is a bonus that brands can depend on. Scarcity, whether real or marketed, is just one more tactic that PSL and other brands can use to market and elevate a product.
Putting It All Together
With deep consumer insight, brands can uncover nostalgic associations that are potentially relevant to their brand, learn how to extend their product across categories, and design elements of scarcity among their shoppers. Explorer Research has the expertise and tools to help you understand these tactics, and ultimately build a stronger path to purchase that drives conversion and shopper satisfaction. Get in touch with us to explore your opportunities further.
