Perhaps the Anti-wine model?

10 comments

• By Tara Zieminek  |  Saturday, February 7, 2009 12:49 AM

  On marketing:
  
  Open a tiny place downtown, or stay open later (or better yet, do both). It seems like there are a lot of posh places downtown where you could open up a second shop. (See if you can get one of those scungy peep shows over by the hardware grill to move; then you could hook in all the government workers.)
  
  I love your product; the hardest part is getting there while you're still open.

  
  
• By ellen  |  Sunday, February 1, 2009 07:05 AM

  I think the reason the wine model to promote coffee has poor cross-over is because so many people don't actually drink "coffee". By the time they dilute, disguise and degrade it with milk or soy, a sweetener, whipped cream, flavor, and more (?) what are they really drinking?
  
  I cheered for Transcend's "Drink it Black" campaign - real coffee.

  
  
• By Adam Snider  |  Tuesday, January 20, 2009 01:22 PM

  I think Stewart makes an excellent point. The craft beer industry may serve as a good example. Not too long ago, most people thought that all beer tasted more or less the same. Beer was beer in much the same way that most coffee drinkers think that all coffee is pretty much the same.
  
  Take a look at what the microbreweries have done to set themselves apart form the more generic macros of the world. How have local breweries like Alley Kat, for example, convinced Edmonontians to drink their beer instead of whatever swill Molson is making these days? Look to the beer industry for inspiration.

  
  
• By Mel  |  Sunday, January 18, 2009 03:22 PM

  What about partnering with other food/beverage industry businesses? We're already in contact with other specialty-item businesses (e.g. Kirsten's Chocolate). Could we not organize special events, open to the public where various business owners get to present and sell things? I know other food-related events already happen - like the food conference that's taking place Jan. 29-31 (http://communitieswithoutboundaries.ca/FoodConference). Would it not be possible to cater at events like these? Also, the Slow Food Movement holds events sometimes. Would it be possible to make these bigger and more public?
  
  I think consumers, even "average" ones are becoming more and more educated, concerned, aware of what they're putting in their bodies. They're also caring more about what things actually taste like. It always surprises me how many great restaurants there are in such a "blue-collar" city such as Edmonton. The interest is there, we just need to keep finding innovative and fun ways of putting the message out.

  
  
• By Stewart Cranston  |  Tuesday, January 13, 2009 06:32 PM

  I think that the beer model would possibly be more comparable to coffee than the wine model. Look at companies like Big Rock, Granville Island, Anchor, and Okanagan Springs. When people first started noticing the beers produced by these companies, Corona was considered an "alternative" to the run of the mill. Now it is very easy to find flavorful beers in many styles. The changes on the liquor store shelf could be compared to the double-double crowd turning into the what-do-I-want-to-try-today? crowd. Why not look at how marketing changed the beer world Poul?

  
  
• By Jim  |  Monday, January 12, 2009 10:05 PM

  I think for many people convenience and price are huge to them and as long as the taste of the coffee is not offensive they are reasonably happy. Some people are drawn to searching out better flavor and experiences from coffee, other things they drink and the food they eat and many are just not and they are quite happy not to do so. I wish there were more places like Transcend in Edmonton and other cities and if there were more people that valued a place like Transcend there would be. I think there are a lot more people that drink wine then was the case in the past but I think appreciation and the pursuit of good wine is still pretty scarce even at the moderate to low price end of the spectrum. I wish I could recommend ways to increase appreciation of better coffee but I don't think I have anything much to suggest. I have tried with family, friends and co-workers with limited success still I keep trying to spread the word.

  
  
• By Thea  |  Monday, January 12, 2009 06:19 PM

  Remember the Pepsi vs coke test? Let's hit the malls with Transcend vs Timmy's! Let their taste buds decide.....
  Or not.

  
  
• By Jody Carlson  |  Monday, January 12, 2009 04:24 PM

  I've pondered that a bit myself, i try to tell and show anyone that will listen about how great coffee can be, some listen, some turn off and raise there guard as if i've insulted there way of life. Maybe specialty coffee just hasn't reached it's tipping point yet.
  
  Alot of people are habitual in every sense of the word, change to the ritual is at times unwelcome and undesired. Weather it's drinking the morning Nabob from the perc or driving with one hand on the wheel, suggestion of change can be unwelcome.
  
  I've found that it's mostly about the sell, if a person can make a product appear sexy, elusive, exclusive, mysterious people will want to try it, be drawn into it, feel left out without it. The idea of a mom and pop coffee shop draws alot of people, but convienince and accesability are king in today's fast pace world.
  
  I wish people knew what they were missing, they are in the philisophical cave, percieving the shadows on the wall as the best coffee has to offer, step out and enjoy the sunlight....

  
  
• By Irving Isler  |  Monday, January 12, 2009 03:07 PM

  One thing I think, as a small business owner myself, is there's a trap in notion that business needs to grow constantly to thrive.
  
  Constant and continuously increasing growth in organic systems is pretty much cancer.
  
  Jim's post, mainly about focus, highlights how there is still ample opportunity for those business that take such things to heart and refine it's offerings as a result.
  
  At some point enough is enough and living well is living enough.
  
  That being said, it should be up to you to decide where that point is, but free-market style expansion is part of what's killing economies left a right. The whole growth-as-essential-metric environment is broken.
  
  Ok, these thoughts aren't totally coherent yet, but hopefully the drift is there!
  
  Best of luck.

  
  
• By Dave Feltham  |  Monday, January 12, 2009 12:58 PM

  I personally don't think you have to worry about the Tim Horton's folks. Hortons drinkers will only ever drink Hortons because it is safe and what they know. It's the Starbucks and Second Cup folks you need to snag, and that's only going to happen if Transcend is as convenient as they are. And expansion will only happen if you have more exposure. Vicious circle. I don't envy your dilemma.
  Have you considered expanding via workplaces? I know that at BioWare, Transcend awareness became wider when more people were exposed to you via the espresso blend that you supply us with.