Marketing Assignment 1: Do we really need that much caffeine in life?

As I was looking for inspirations for my marketing blog assignment on CBC news website, I came across the news about Tim Horton’s new cup sizes.  Instead of the old cup sizes, Tim Horton’s decided to rename its cups on size down — which means a “Small” will now be an “Extra Small” and a “Large” will now be a “Medium”. All of these changes are made to bring out the new 24 oz Extra Large.

Despite the huge inconvenience of this change that would be brought to habitual customers such as myself, I am curious about the fact that how many people would actually try the 24 oz cup – with a size more than two bottles of beer! Do we really need that much caffeine all at once?

The survey held by CBC News towards this “tremendous” cup size has shown people’s attitudes towards the change – 53.75% of the participants claimed that they would not purchase the new Extra Large cup.

As some people questioned Tim Horton’s change, the new cup sizes are named the same as Tim Horton’s in the States with the exception of the 8 oz cup which had never existed. I guess Tim Horton’s gets confused itself by serving double standards to US and Canadian customers, only this time that the Canadian customers will make the sacrifice to think before they order. As Tim Horton’s entering the US market, its marketing strategy is modified towards the US custom — “super sized” coffee instead of Coke from MacDonald’s.

Although the changes is going to be made starting from next week, I doubt that how many Canadians would actually purchase the 24 oz cup — it sounds a little too much, isn’t it? Whether like it or not, just remember to think before you order at Tim Horton’s. I could already seen  people getting confused when they get their drinks.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/01/will-you-drink-tim-hortons-24-ounce-cup-of-coffee.html