Denying the Denier at Pinkberry

I met the CEO of Pinkberry last night -- this kind of thing is unusual for me so while that's a pretentious-sounding thing to say, it's sort of ironic. I didn't actually realize that he was the CEO of the company until he said something like "Ted [Philip, from Highland, who I know through a mutual friend] has been a great Board member for me", and later he said "Let me bring over my Director of Operations", and he introduced himself as Ron, and then I looked him up on the web later. Yes, I'm slow on the draw.

Anyway, I was at the opening of Pinkberry's first Massachusetts store to congratulate my friend Trippe Lonian; Trippe is one of the very few people I know who also went to business school (HBS) but decided to go into franchising anyway. Standing in line, I sampled the chocolate flavor, which is not tangy like the rest of their yogurts. Ron, leaning against the wall next to me, asked me what I thought. It's not as distinctive as the rest of their flavors, but didn't want to say that, so I said "It's pretty good... seems like a classic 'deny the denier' offering."

This then led him to ask me when I became a marketer. The truth is, I got this phrase from Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma", but when an official-looking guy who later turns out to be the CEO of Pinkberry tells you that you sounded smart, you don't correct him.

"Deny the Denier" is one reason that McDonald's offers salads; this way, when mom tells the kids that they can't go to McDonald's because it's unhealthy, the kids can say "But mom, they have salads." Kids are huge drivers of their parents' spending, so for a company like McDonald's that relies on marketing to kids, this is crucial to build very long-term annuity streams (i.e., kids going to McDonald's for years and buying very high-margin processed food and soda).

Pinkberry has a non-tangy yogurt offering for the same reason. I have one daughter (Lily) who loves tangy pomegranate, but her twin (Sophie) won't go near it. This way, when Sophie says "I don't like Pinkberry", I can remind her of the plain chocolate version. That, and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch toppings.

Starbucks sells non-caffeinated / non-coffee drinks for a similar reason. As someone hooked on caffeine, I don't get the appeal of this personally, but I get the strategy. Starbucks' founder and CEO Howard Schultz is also on Ron's Board. I would love to get a ticket to those Board meetings.

The other Pinkberry feature I can highlight is the "one price for all the toppings you want" idea. I think this is really smart, and not just because I'm a Five Guys franchisee where all the toppings except cheese and bacon are free. The truth is that the food cost is basically the same if you get 1 ounce of 1 topping or 1/4 ounce each of 4 toppings, but as a customer, you feel like you got much better value from 4 toppings than from 1. Yes, it depends somewhat on whether you get fresh-cut kiwi or Cap'n Crunch, but since you're already paying a premium price for the base product (the yogurt in their case), it sort of doesn't matter since the aggregate profit numbers go up.

The irony is that when I brought home 3 cups of yogurt for my family, even Sophie liked the tangy stuff. The little chocolate-covered Krispies did the trick. Another denier, eliminated. Well played, Pinkberry.