Keurig is a coffee manufacturing company based in Massachusetts. It deals in both commercial and home manufacturing for coffee brews. It is in alliance with the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters International (GMCR). The company that was started in 1990 and has had several evolutions over the years and currently, includes products from companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. Keurig is now owned wholly as a subsidiary of GMRC after they acquired it in 2006 for around 160 million United States Dollars (Wallace 2).
GMRC has a trend of introducing seasonal coffee flavors to its clients after every few months. The flavors are sold in such a way that when customers are about to accept the product, another different flavor is brought up. There is a variety of flavors, which include the Pumpkins Spice Keurig K-cup. It is delicious with the right mix of flavors and some amount of pumpkin in it. The gingerbread and spicy eggnog offers their roasts to many who are celebrating their holidays while the golden French toast Keurig-cup coffee is available for pleasing a large crowd. Other flavors include cider, chocolate, tea and fruit flavors (GMRC 1).
According to Marshall and Jeremy, customers’ demands are countless in any marketing environment. Keurig manufactures have too responded to such wants of its clients. As a single cup brewer, it has solved the problem of customers having to grind their coffee then measure and lastly, cleans up. It has gone ahead to customize its brand to match the diverse tastes of its customers. The customers are pleased with how easy it is to order coffee and get it delivered on time. It has also allowed customers to benefit from their reusable filters which allow them to make their own coffee, as well. Services are at the disposal of the customers. They are offered channels in which they can bring out their complaints, comments, and these are reviewed by the customers’ desk (19).
The recent campaigns have led Keurig to be the first in sports marketing with very many schools and universities across the United States. With its promotional program and experiential marketing, it has moved to what they define as a new cohort of consumers. The company wants to bring the students to experience the best of Keurig products. This has made a major step through it’s digital efforts where the information will be available in all the colleges’ portfolio and official websites. It has further brought in a new campaign where men and women aged above 35 years are targeted. The reason behind this is to have a luxury at your fingertips as you make the brewing of coffee enjoyable. Because they have provided yet another integrated campaign where consistency, flavor variety and quick, convenient brewing are all considered.
For household or commercial use, Keurig has many models of machines to be sold. It sells brewers that use K-cups packs and the Vue packs. Just like K-cups, Vue packs can also be recycled. Vue packs give a chance for different mug sizes and at the same time has the options for optimal brew setting. The Rio system has the options for both cold and hot beverages (Marshall and Jeremy 34). In late 2013, Keurig opened its first retail store in Burlington. It has all the Keurig machines and all the types of K-cups that make you build your own coffee cup.
References
"Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s. Patent Expiration Could Create Glut of K-Cup Copies: Mandour & Associates, APC. July 18, 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Marshall, Paul W, and Jeremy B. Dann. Keurig. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Pub, 2004. Print
Wallace, Benjamin. Keurig and Flavia: Single Serve Coffee show down. Business Week, 17 June 2010. Web 9 Mar. 2014
