Is Coca-Cola better than Pepsi with a McDonald’s? Is a Pepsi better than a Coke with KFC?
Do these retailers believe that their chosen beverage offering is truly the best to complement their food offers or are they ambivalent about the pairing and have just gone for the best distribution deal?
If it is the latter are the retailers right that the choice of drink is not as relevant as the deal offered or could they enhance their consumer offering by choosing their drink partner more carefully?
I have no doubt that there is extensive consumer research behind these very significant commercial deals, but the overriding truth at the moment is that most consumers are not making an informed decision regarding which cola they drink with what food.
Over the years our research has shown that when considering a non-alcoholic beverage to be drunk with a meal most consumers give the food a reasonable amount of thought first and then choose their drink based on availability and with little thought regarding its compatibility to the meal they have just chosen.
We have also seen that when choosing snacks, consumers tend to choose their drink first and then pick up an available snack to consume alongside the drink with little or no thought about how the two will go together.
In neither case is there a great deal – if any – thought given to how the drink will enhance the meal or how the snack will complement the drink.
If we believe that the right wine choice enhances our meal experience, why do we not think the same about our choice of non-alcoholic beverages with our food and snacks?
When you consider the amount of literature and discussion regarding how different wines complement our food and even about which snacks to eat with our wines and spirits, why is there so little consideration given to how our non-alcoholic drink choices work with our food?
There is nothing inherently more sophisticated about drinking alcohol with food, although perhaps the occasions when we do tend to be more special or occasional, while non-alcoholic beverages are consumed on more mundane occasions.
It does impact your experience. The drink you choose to have with which food or snack. Once you think about it the more you will notice how the right drink improves the experience and improves your mood.
In the same way that the acidity of a wine cuts through the fattiness of food and cleans the palate, in the way that the sweetness or dryness, the depth and complexity of flavour of the wine compliments and elicits the flavour of the food, then exactly the same applies to how your soda works with your snack. How the carbonation cuts through the fattiness of the burger, how the sweetness interacts with the savouriness or saltiness of your food, how the depth and complexity of flavour works with – or smothers – the flavour of the food.
But let’s not get carried away here, I am not suggesting that we all should become soda connoisseurs – although many of us will always have our favourites. What I do believe is worthy of greater consideration is how different sodas compliment different meals and snacks. If all your consumers choose their drinks and snack pairings with a little more thought they could improve their experiences and this in turn, in just a small way, will improve their lives.
When consumers make a better choice for their food and drink pairings it improves their experience and makes their life better.
Unwrapping McDonald’s deal with Coke or KFC’s with Pepsi would be a hugely complex affair and well beyond my ambit. However, if we could start to show consumers how the subtle differences between the colas, or between any other sodas that they may choose, makes a difference to the way that they enjoy their meals and their snacks we could improve their lives and significantly open up greater opportunities for the brands that lead the way.
You could open up a whole new way of communicating with your consumers. Find a new language with which to encourage consumers to think about their food and beverage pairings, to recognise why this drink goes well with their meal or snack and helping them to spot for themselves why the competitor does not work so well. Improving their enjoyment of your products through the better choices that they are making.
The number of occasions that individual consumers are choosing non-alcoholic drinks instead of alcoholic ones is increasing. Increasingly the consumers making these decisions do not want to feel they are making a lesser choice. Low or no-alcohol substitutes are filling some of this space, but traditional sodas and soft drinks have a strong opportunity here if consumers feel they can make an informed choice that will enhance their experience.
Whether it is a meal out, a take-out or delivery, or a snack in front of the tv, having just a small amount of knowledge that helps the consumer to make the best choice for their food and drink pairing improves their experience and makes their life better.
If you are the brand helping them to make these decisions, it could also significantly enhance the performance of your brand.
Chris Lukehurst is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Providing Clarity on the Psychological relationships between consumers and brands
