Craig Smith, planning director at Wax Communications believes that, in so much as brand loyalty exists consumers are as brand loyal as ever. But with attention spans getting ever shorter brands can drive switching by offering new experiences. He looks at how even the most loyal coffee drinker can be encouraged to switch their allegiance by constantly being offered something new and exciting.

As a massive fan and regular imbiber of coffee, I like to look out for both a perfect brew and also a nice good value loyalty scheme. At over £2.50 a pop, for a product I know costs pennies, I want something back. As an adjunct to this, I’m also, a huge technology whore, have owned most of the smart phones in existence, have more computers at home than Stephen Fry* and hence love the idea of the new and the different. But if I’m honest I now feel like a sucker.

Let me explain. I was wildly in love with Caffé Nero for quite some time, and it’s still my favourite cup. The good strong taste of the coffee and not too massive cups works for me just right. The baristas were friendly and remembered my order so I could just pop in and be gone with just a cheery hello.

I also liked the fact that for every 9 cups I’d get one free, this usually worked out as my Friday afternoon cup as a freebie, which was just fine and dandy. I never really liked the fact that it was just a stamp on a card though. I’d often lose them, or leave them in another coat or pocket and be back at square one. My fault I know, but annoying all the same.

A few months ago, a new shiny Costa opened across the road from my office, it was nice and airy and they had a plastic loyalty card that I could keep in my wallet and collect points for free stuff. I could use these points to buy anything in store not just a drink, so I could get a cake for a treat, or whatever. (Incidentally I know point on cards is nothing new either, but it was new in terms of coffee shops!)

So I switched my allegiance, I became a regular in the new Costa and I collected my points for a fair few weeks, got my free coffees and was happily forming a new slightly amended habit. I always felt guilty walking past the Nero on my way, but I had points to collect, so off I went.

One day, I stopped. I was actually having coffee with my MD, he paid but as he had no card I swiped mine and then took at look at the receipt. Which was something I, at the time, rarely did. The figure that stood out wasn’t the price, or the total number of points, but rather the number of points I’d just earned.

It was a very small number, which with some rapid and basic maths showed that actually it was rather a poor deal, worth roughly half the value of the paper stamp method employed by Nero. Bastards. So I’ve not been back, not ever. Back to Nero I went, with my tail between my legs and a ‘Have you been on holiday?’ from the friendly barista, she even gave me a few extra stamps for returning, thereby adding to my guilt.

But then something shiny appeared in the shape of the Starbucks iPhone app, I had a card from them before, but I’d stopped using it, it wasn’t a loyalty card you see just a way to pay for coffee, and hence other than for gifts, fairly pointless I thought. (To be fair it did give you free extra shots and soya, which was kinda ok)

Anyway, I’ve been seduced again. I like that rather than pay with money I now wave my iPhone under the reader and get extra shots (critical in Starbucks, it’s very weak otherwise) and soya for no charge. I like the fact that it shows me my balance on the card, meaning that I can set myself a budget in this age of austerity and manage it without logins and the hassle of remembering another password.

I like that I do now get rewards, 15 cups and I get a free one (still worse than Nero and they limit it to a ‘tall’, the gits), but more than all that I like that the way I use it is new and means I can show a funky barcode to a lady, exchange no ‘cash’ and be out of the store, coffee in hand. It’s also very clever in that once loaded with cash, they’ve got my coffee budget and so I’m compelled to use it up rather than spend with someone else I’m also compelled to reload it as when I’m down to say £2, it’s not enough for my drink, but it’s too much for me to waste and the easy way I can add another £10 makes it a no brainer, just like iTunes.

So what’s my point?

Well I may be in a minority, (in this age of low attention spans I doubt it), and despite that my job is marketing, I’m still a consumer and it would appear that I’m more loyal to new experiences than I am to the product. I prefer Caffé Nero, it has the best coffee and the richest loyalty offer, but yet I’m prepared to stray to it’s competitors, just cause they have a ‘new’ toy. I like the experience that waving my iPhone gives me in Starbucks better than any other way of ordering coffee at the moment, and so for now they’re my favourite. In other words I have no loyalty, I’m a magpie constantly looking for the new, so if brands want to keep me interested, they’d better keep a-changing.


*I don’t, I exaggerated. Although I don’t know how many computers Stephen has, I’m fairly sure it’s more than me, just read his blog.