Making Mr. Coffee

Editor's note: David Morawski is vice president/research director, and Lacey J. Zachary is research project supervisor, with Meldrum & Fewsmith advertising, Cleveland, Ohio.

All too often, the words "Advertising research" are associated with evaluating creative rather than making a positive contribution to the creative process. (In other words, advertising research may have an image problem.) Hopefully, the following case study of a project conducted for our client, Mr. Coffee, Inc., will demonstrate how research, when conducted within an open-minded creative culture, can stimulate ideas. Advertising research, if viewed as such a vehicle, can open new possibilities in terms of design and interpretation.

What follows is the research conducted as a part of the process that developed and will monitor the Mr. Coffee brand personification campaign. Our pride in this research stems not from its methodology, technique or sophistication. Rather, we are proud of how our program development team molded research facts and figures, insight and talent into an effective brand message for our client.

Background

In 1972, Mr. Coffee invented a new product category with the introduction of the automatic drip coffee maker. From the initial product sprang features such as automatic shut-off, pre-set brewing and pause 'n serve. Also, the brand's offering was expanded with an extensive line of related coffee products, such as coffee filters, replacement decanters, coffee bean grinders and mug-and-decanter warmers. Since its introduction, Mr. Coffee has been the number one selling brand of automatic drip coffee makers and related products.

In May of 1989, the company introduced The Iced Tea Pot, inventing once again a new product category. The Iced Tea Pot represented the beginning of a new product diversification strategy that would expand the brand beyond the coffee-related product categories. Combining a trusted name associated with quality and value, with strong distribution, the strategy was a marketing natural, with the exception of communication challenges.

First, the name "Mr. Coffee" had become generic to many consumers. For example, in focus group research, respondents often referred to their automatic drip coffee makers as "my Mr. Coffee," even though they may have been competitive brands. Even some supermarkets have a dial setting for grinding coffee beans labeled "all Mr. Coffees."

The second communication challenge for the diversification strategy was that consumer experience with the brand, and the name itself, was narrowly associated with coffee related products only. How could the brand be positioned to encompass products beyond those related to making and enjoying coffee?

And finally, diversification meant that the company's advertising budget would now be required to introduce new, individual products as well as support existing ones. How could this be accomplished most cost-effectively? Management at Mr. Coffee recognized these bigger, longer-term brand issues. They presented the challenge to those of us at Meldrum & Fewsmith advertising, and gave the agency a "free hand" to explore and recommend what we felt would be most effective.

New campaign

Late last fall, Mr. Coffee launched a new television campaign that was created by our agency. The campaign includes four spots: "Art Teacher," "Aunt Loreen," "Perfectionist," and "Hypnotic Suggestion." The documentary-style commercials are humorous reminiscences about inspirational moments in "Mr. Coffee's" career as an inventor, told in down-home, intimate chats with members of his family and friends. Wife, sister, parents and elderly art teacher - each one gives the viewer some insight into why "Mr. Coffee" does what he does, and then they ponder the tag line for the campaign, "What'll he think of next?"

For example, the spot entitled "Art Teacher" is a monologue by "Mr. Coffee's" elementary school art teacher, Miss Finch. She shows the audience one piece of artwork after another, each one square, no matter what the assignment. "So in '72 he comes out with a coffee maker. Big surprise! Square," she sighs. The spot then introduces the new Accel coffee maker, which has a more curved, sleek look than the traditional model. The spot closes with Miss Finch proclaiming, "Mister, you're making progress."

Mr. Coffee as a person provides the vehicle to communicate to consumers, in an interesting way, the strengths of the company and the position of the brand. It is also a strategy that is difficult for competitors to match or preempt.

Brand "persona"

Most advertising, especially brand advertising, implicitly communicates a brand "persona" by nature of establishing what a brand stands for in very human terms. The recognition of the opportunity to explicitly personify the Mr. Coffee brand came from numerous focus groups held before development of a brand campaign itself. Mr. Coffee regularly conducts these focus groups as an initial exploratory step in new product development. In those group discussions with the target audience (primarily women 25-59), there was a common thread in how respondents referred to Mr. Coffee. While it seems obvious now, a "linguistic thread" was almost overlooked at the time.

The objectives of those focus groups dealt with new product development and, consequently, they were originally analyzed in such a context. When the groups were revisited in the context of a brand message, a brand campaign, already latently understood and accepted, was discovered. Here are some of the consumer quotes referring to the brand:

"He makes good coffee." "He's got a lot of different models and prices." "I would try the iced tea machine because I know he makes good coffee." "Why did he wait so long to make an iced tea machine?"

Considering the name "Mr. Coffee" and the brand's strong association with Joe DiMaggio in the 1970s, the finding is not surprising.

Important factors

Quantitative and qualitative research identified the following factors as those most important in the purchase of small electric kitchen appliances:


  • Good value for the price
  • Good quality
  • Lasts a long time
  • Only features I need
  • Good taste (for beverage makers)

With these factors in mind, it was decided that "Mr. Coffee", the person, should be a practical, meticulous inventor. As a brand name, "Mr. Coffee" denotes a narrow product scope. As a practical inventor," expanded new product possibilities are much more acceptable. A meticulous nature implies quality products. To begin to develop other personality characteristics for the brand, the first primary research conducted specifically for the campaign was initiated.

Defining "Mr. Coffee"

 To personify "Mr. Coffee," a detailed questionnaire was developed to help in defining nearly every aspect of "his" being, essentially creating both a personal and professional profile. We wanted to be sure that the personality profile created for the character was, at least generally, in line with current images. All questions were open-ended to allow for maximum latitude in each response. Specific questions included:


  • What kind of music does he listen to?
  • Where does he shop for clothes?
  • What type of car does he drive?
  • Where was he born?
  • Where did he go to college?
  • What are his hobbies?

Using this questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted as a means of generating ideas. The results contained an unexpectedly high degree of consistency among the respondents on most questions. For example, when asked "which character or personality from TV or movies would he be most like," respondents indicated Gregory Peck, Robert Young on "Father Knows Best," and Andy Griffith. This demonstrated strong similarities in respondents' perceptions of "Mr. Coffee's" physical appearance and personality. Correspondingly, people associated "Mr. Coffee" as having a science or mathematics background, possessing an inventive spirit, and being practical, or even prudent.

National representation

Subsequent to the pilot study, a general question asking respondents to describe "Mr. Coffee" was attached to a questionnaire for a product concept study being conducted for Mr. Coffee by NFO Research, Inc. This would provide national quantitative results that we considered to be requisite in validating our preliminary profile of "Mr. Coffee" which was compiled from the results of the pilot study.

Because this was a singular question, respondents could describe "Mr. Coffee" on any number of variables. However, the profile that evolved from the quantitative study was surprisingly consistent with the results generated from the pilot study. Specifically, "Mr. Coffee" was perceived to be married and in his mid-fifties, with graying hair; not inordinately distinctive-looking; having a scientific orientation, and an inventive yet practical bent.

Given the similitude of responses produced by the two studies, a profile of "Mr. Coffee" could now be constructed by the creative staff. Using the research results as a guide, a formal character biography was written by our creative director, Scott Crawford. It begins this way:

"Born September 18, 1938, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Eldest of three children (two girls, one boy) of Harold and Betty Coffee, second-generation immigrants from France (name changed from De Courrier at Ellis Island). "

This document assured us that the image of "Mr. Coffee" we would be presenting through the creative executions was compatible with the consumers' image of "Mr. Coffee." In addition, it provided a template for successive creative executions.

The campaign

The finished campaign revealed our profile of "Mr. Coffee" through various members of his family (i.e., his wife, his parents, his sister and his elementary school art teacher). Additionally, a tag line "What'll he think of next" was included to reinforce his inventive nature. The rationale, in part, for concealing "Mr. Coffee's" identity, was to create an element of anticipation - specifically that of eventually seeing "Mr. Coffee. '

Correspondingly, the tag line also produced expectations in terms of additional Mr. Coffee brand products. Consequently, we conducted informal qualitative research to validate the take-away message with consumers.

In-house interviews were conducted with females between the ages 25 and 59. The participants were exposed to the new Mr. Coffee brand image commercials. While some viewed the new brand image commercials in the context of the campaign, others were exposed to the brand image commercials individually. Participants independently evaluated each commercial in a questionnaire format prior to discussing their responses. Commercials were evaluated relative to the take-away message, brand perception, and the likeability of the commercial.

Results were quite favorable. Comments elicited subsequent to viewing the Mr. Coffee brand image campaign included the following:

"This says that Mr. Coffee won't rest on his name. They're always looking for new ways to improve their products or even make new ones."

"It makes it more human. Mr. Coffee's not just a machine or a company."

"Are they ever going,' to show us Mr. Coffee?"

"I would consider Mr. Coffee next time...these are down-to-earth people."

Although the Mr. Coffee brand image commercials were quite well-received, the result of the research revealed that initial exposure to the campaign should begin with the "Mrs. Coffee" commercial, as it was an easy and logical transition for consumers to make. Therefore, the campaign could be easily established by viewing the "Mrs. Coffee" execution first.

Tracking the campaign

A tracking study was then established that incorporated a number of brand attributes associated with the campaign through the "Mr. Coffee" character. The initial wave of the tracking study was conducted in early November, prior to the roll-out of the campaign in late November. The study was conducted by the Maffett Research Group in Cleveland with a national sample of 1,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 59. As previously mentioned, along with typical awareness preference questions used in surveys of this type, respondents were asked to rate the Mr. Coffee brand on several attributes reflective of the "Mr. Coffee" character. These included:


  • Being innovative
  • Being practical
  • A brand you can trust
  • Has highest quality overall

These questions not only enabled us to establish a benchmark for the Mr. Coffee brand, but also to understand how effectively the brand image created by "Mr. Coffee" was being communicated.

The results of the benchmark study revealed one important implication. The Mr. Coffee brand achieved very high scores on the attributes of being practical and trustworthy. The performance on the innovation attribute was somewhat lower, on a relative basis, at that time. Notably, because at least part of the intent of the campaign was to suggest Mr. Coffee's innovative/inventive orientation, the post-wave of the tracking study would provide some initial measure of the campaign's impact on that attribute.

The second or post wave is scheduled to run in late Fall 1992 to include both new Mr. Coffee product advertising and another flight of the brand image campaign.