In correlation with introducing its new McCafe-branded beverages, including flavored lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos, McDonald's announced a new series of sweepstakes where grand prize winners will take home thousands of dollars worth of Visa and McDonald's gift cards. (Contest details available on the McCafe site)
The new, branded line of espresso drinks is at least in part McDonald's return fire, reacting Starbucks Coffee's attempts to encroach on the fast-food giant's breakfast business in recent years.
McDonald's and Starbucks have been in a full-fledged breakfast war, a war waged in product offerings and marketing campaigns. Recently, McDonald's featured a line of commercials suggesting that Starbucks was a snobby business with snobby employees and confusing menu items. The burger giant later took the fight to Starbucks' home court. A huge billboard on East Marginal Way in Seattle, Wash. -- the city known for its coffee and the birthplace of Starbucks -- simply said "Four bucks is dumb," drawing notice to the notoriously higher prices of Starbucks' beverages.
While Starbucks has not so openly fired back, thus far resisting over-the-top advertisements, it has begun offering breakfast deals. The company's deal of a "tall" (a.k.a. small) latte and an oatmeal or breakfast sandwich seeks to present a value, in a manner more understated than a fast-food restaurant hucksterism. Many experts assert that Starbucks has thrived in the past due to its championing of customer service, although the consistent quality of its product is also noted. McDonald's has taken a different approach to attracting the masses. As the economy slumps and people become more tight with their money, the fast food chain sticks on point with its value-centric message, particularly as a counterpoint to the coffee chain's.
It's a battle of conflicting philosophies on what customers at large seek in a coffee. Until the recessionary economy, Starbucks clearly had a winning formula, but current market conditions may represent an opportunity for the value-focused McDonald's to strike. The victor, of course, will be decided by the customers.
May the best double-soy, two-pump vanilla latte win.
