The “Big Yellow Taxi” of Marketing

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

‘Til it's gone

These immortal lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s classic song, “Big Yellow Taxi,” must be on the minds of Twinings Tea Company Ltd executives and customers alike. Following a revamping of its original 1831 Earl Grey tea blend with a new version that was met with hundreds of complaints on the company website, a Facebook protest, and customers rushing to stores that still carry the old brand, Twinings succumbed to this wave of negative sentiment (as highlighted in a blog post by our client, Attensity) and found a solution that aims to make everyone happy and serves as a reminder of the original blend’s immense popularity – particularly once “it’s gone.” Twinings’ move demonstrates the risk attached to tampering with a cherished institution – isn’t that right, Coca-Cola and D.C. Comics?

HP similarly faced great demand for its tablets upon its announcement in early August to shelve its HP TouchPad production. To rid itself of remaining inventory, HP announced $99 bargain-basement pricing which caused the remaining tablets to fly off shelves. At the end of the month, HP decided to produce one last round of the tablet to meet consumer demand. However, as the sudden popularity is presumably due to the cut-rate price and not a well-established customer affinity, it would be ill-advised of HP to reverse course and keep the tablets in the market — particularly since they are apparently losing money with every sale. Meanwhile, HP looks indecisive — if not foolish — for producing a “zombie” tablet at a loss, for which they cannot predict availability and that they do not plan to support (although not as foolish as the people buying it).

There’s some debate over whether these two off-the-wall decisions by Twinings and HP weren’t clever marketing ploys to create buzz and boost customer engagement. If so, that’s a fool’s game. Change can be a positive step, provided companies determine at the outset their expected goal resulting from the change. But, if retaining core customers is still the objective, tinkering with a recipe (or old versions of Star Wars – that means you, George Lucas!) might be too much for hard-core loyalists. And, they are the ones who are the hardest to lure back once they finally abandon a product.

Jordan Hubert can be reached at jhubert@sterlingpr.com. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jahubert.

Editorial credit: Lisa Hawes. Follow Lisa on Twitter @lisakayhawes.

Photo credit: Under the Emmaus Sun via Flickr