Designing the “Me Too” Message
Small editorial up over at Positive Space Blog about some recent “design wars” over instant coffee. There are some really interesting observations made (check out the comments as well), but I personally feel that the title is a bit off. Go read the article, and then hit the jump for my thoughts.As I mentioned, I feel the article’s title is a little off. Nescafe definitely seems to be echoing the Starbucks campaign, but not mirroring it. It definitely creates an odd sort of cycle where Starbucks is trying to show how much better they are than the Nescafe instant coffees of the world, Nescafe is trying to ride on those coattails and nail Starbucks over their pricing, and Starbucks in turn is trying to drive the point home that they still taste better. And the cycle continues.
While I think it’s low of Nescafe to mirror the Starbucks, I would argue that by echoing the Starbucks visual look, they are targeting the very people their message is going after. Unoriginal? Yes. Lazy? Yes. But, in that sense I would say the design does match the messaging…it’s just a bad message to begin with…and apparently bad coffee too.
Thoughts?
Ok, first off…wheres the proof that the Starbucks branding came first? Or even how long either product has been using that look? Yes it is lame that they look the same, but lets not forget the whole ridiculousness of the SaveJon incident. PSB needs some facts to back up the argument.
All I know is I’d probably still rather have the Nescafe because of:
1. The price, I’m cheap. However I will pay for GOOD coffee. That being said, anything instant is generally crap. It is used (by me) only in a situation that doesn’t allow for fresh brewed. In Portland I don’t see how that could ever be possible, but there you go.
2. Starbucks coffee just isn’t that good. I like the convenience of Starbucks, and that alone is what I like about them. Their barristas generally all make equally crappy coffee that inherently tastes burnt. Starbucks ground coffee you can buy in the store just isn’t worth it when you can get better (i.e. Tully’s, Stumptown, etc.) for damn near the same price. This leads me to believe that unless their instant brand is actually BETTER than their fresh brewed, I would rather just save the money and have something that will still be disappointing.
So, in the end, Nescafe > Starbucks.