Massively annoyed. Honestly, it’s only possible to annoy me at this level before I get my morning coffee down my gullet.
I walked over to the shopping center near my home in Del Mar, CA and got a coffee from one of the major coffee chains. Outside, there were some women dressed in red sweatshirts talking to folks and showing off a new product: coffee cozys.
They were nice enough 50-year-old housewives. They chatted me up and lavished love on the dog, in a Christmassy tone. Then they began the full-court-press: selling the product in the most obnoxious fashion. It was all features, benefits, close-quarter selling. All push, no pull. Simply put: they used carny/gypsy techniques. In order to end this assault and drink my drink in peace, I was forced to buy the product.
So, ladies… here’s the thing. Yes, you got me to pay for the product, but your marketing technique was so bad that I made a point of calling you out online. Ouch! The digital age hurts sometimes, doesn’t it?! Anyway, I suggest reading up on guerrilla marketing in the digital, social media marketing age. No carny “burn the lot” sales techniques. If you had been giving away that product, I might have had a completely different reaction… maybe even given a glowing shout out on INeedCoffee.com, a website I co-founded, which is frequented by thousands of people in the coffee industry. But now? No, not so much.
By the way, the product (hotcupcozy.com) is basically a neoprene sleeve for coffee, made of the same material as an entry-level wetsuit. It’s overpriced ($7) And, although it might keep my drink hot a little longer than normal, I’m the kind of consumer who usually completes a drink before the need for a cozy. Sorry, I don’t seem much of a future for this product in this venue. Certainly not at this price-point.