THE UNICORN FRAPPUCCINO IS COOL ... FOR NOW
Food gimmicks create buzz for companies — and then vanish
Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino is all the rage now, but it’ll soon be as hard to find as the mythical beast it’s named for.
The bright pink beverage, which starts off tasting sweet, then segues to sour, is available only through Sunday.
It’s what people in the business call stunt food: an unusual dish or drink — based on taste, size or ingredients — created for a limited time to grab attention.
Whether these gimmicks have the power to boost a company’s bottom line is debatable. What is clear, though, is that these promotions tap into people’s need to be trendy, taste different things and share wacky images on social media.
“It’s an in-and-out buzz,” said Christine Couvelier, a global culinary trend expert and president of the food development firm Culinary Concierge. “Consumers look for the new ‘it’ or the new ‘wow’ and want to taste it.”
Stunt food has been around for years. Among the big splashes:
uKFC’s Double Down, a sandwich with two chicken fillets instead of a bun.
uBurger King ’s Whopperito, with hamburger meat and cheese wrapped in a tortilla.
uPizza Hut’s hot dog bites pizza. uTaco Bell’s Naked Breakfast Taco, with meat, potatoes and cheese in a fried egg-as-taco shell. It debuts this spring. uJack in the Box’s bacon milkshake.
“Whether it’s the Unicorn Frappuccino or whatever’s coming in two weeks at a burger place, consumers know more about food now than they ever have before,” Couvelier said. “Food is today’s hottest social currency.”
And the need for food is neverending, which is why shoppers see way-out-there creativity on menus that they don’t see on, say, furniture showroom floors or on car dashboards. Three times a day, plus at regular snacking and drinking intervals, their hunger is up for grabs.
Morningstar restaurant analyst R.J. Hottovy said he doesn’t think the Unicorn Frappuccino will affect sales and quarterly earnings but sees the drink as a way for the Seattle-based coffee chain to create buzz, which is valuable in itself.
“You won’t see it move the needle,” he said. “It’s a competitive market. A lot of people are moving into the coffee space. It’s not for everyone, but it gets people talking. It takes some innovation to drive people to your locations.”
Peter Saleh, managing director and restaurant analyst at BTIG, disagreed, pointing out that the chain has focused for years on creating drinks, and the level of chatter that this one has stirred could make it even more significant than others they’ve developed.
That could be enough to lure people with zero interest in new drinks into a Starbucks. And those who are intrigued enough to buy the sweet-turns-sour froth might add other menu items to their tabs.
“Could it be a driver of earnings? Yes,” Saleh said. “One of the cornerstones of their same-store sales growth is beverage innovation.
“They’re probably developing the next new product now for launch in three months or six months,” he said.
Starbucks doesn’t disclose how well individual products sell but said in an email that it’s “been thrilled with our customers’ enthusiastic reaction and advocacy for the Unicorn Frappuccino; its fandom has exceeded everyone’s expectations.”
The Unicorn Frappuccino was inspired by unicorn-themed food and drinks trending on social media.
Anne Balazs, interim dean of Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business and a professor of marketing, said she sees the pink drink and similar items as fads designed to shake things up a bit and challenge convention.
“The launch of extreme or bizarre foods is an effort to capture the zeitgeist of the market,” she said. “Such efforts are very shortlived; result in free publicity, often profitable; and sharply decline in effect. The fad is remembered long after the demand. It is a relatively quick way to breathe life into flat sales.”
Sarah Waldrop, 23, a PR coordinator in New York City, might have helped. She decided to try a Unicorn Frappuccino — and let the world know about her choice on social media.
“I saw a sign by their menu and decided why not, I’ll try it,” she said. “It’ll probably be a very cute photo, and I could show it to my baby cousins,” she added before posting the photo on Instagram and on her blog and sharing it on Facebook. “I knew it was a very trending topic. ... I love trying weird things.”