Marketing 101

I went to Jack in the Box last night and ordered a Sourdough Combo. (Yes, I wanted a free holiday ball.)

“And can I get a small fry on the side?” … A modest request, right?
“I’m sorry, there is no small. Would you like a medium fry?”
<pause>
“Fine.”

Y’know … it really irks me that almost all of the fast food chains have eliminated the “small”. Am I the only one that doesn’t want a SIXTY-FOUR OUNCE soda? I remember when I could get a “small” order of fries for 79¢. Now I get the same thing, but it’s called a “medium” and it costs $1.09. Do they think that I’m deceived? Man. It’s not like everyone would have stopped buying “smalls” if the price had been raised to $1.09. All they managed to do was insult me.

There’s an excellent article at fastcompany.com that discusses a few fascinating marketing issues like this. I followed a link that looked worth reading from the webword newsletter:

Cleaning Up Brand Clutter — “Make simplicity a selling point. Look at BMW. They’ve got the 3-series, the 5-series, and the 7-series. You know instinctively which is the entry-level car and which is the top of the line. You know that the 540 model has a more powerful engine than the 528.”