Never a Lack of Ideas

Adapt or Die   Those who know me best often hear me proclaim my theory that only old people choose to eat butter pecan ice cream. Oh sure, some younger people enjoy its taste, but nobody under the age of 55 ever goes to the grocery store or Baskin Robins and buys butter pecan ice cream. The flavor is simply outdated. What does this mean for ice cream manufacturers? It means they should keep producing the flavor to satisfy current demand, but they had better create new flavors to adapt to changing tastes. That’s why they’ve created flavors like French silk and cookie dough — flavors that didn’t exist 15 years ago. In short, they adapt or die. Add This To Your To-Do List Have you taken a good look at your products or services lately? Are you still investing heavily in butter pecan ice cream and counting on it being your best seller for years to come? If so, you need to invest in innovation as quickly as possible. It could be as simple as offering new items on your menu, new s...

I Scream for Ice Cream To launch its new line of coffee-flavored ice cream, Starbucks is running a promotion through July 19th in which Facebook users can give a free pint of ice cream to one of their friends. At the top of every hour, Starbucks will give out 800 coupons for free ice cream via a Facebook application at http://apps.facebook.com/starbucksicecream . Facebook users cannot print a free ice cream coupon for themselves – they must send it to a friend. Since the free ice cream coupons are gone within seconds after the start of each hour, Starbucks offers a coupon for $1.00 off of a pint of their new ice cream to people who do not grab a free pint for their friends. This way, nobody is left out of the promotion. Learning From KFC’s Mistakes Starbucks made three notable improvements to the Kentucky Grilled Chicken debacle two months ago: Never underestimate the power of free food. The KGC promotion prompted millions of people to print off coupons for a free meal. Starbucks is...