“I don’t mean to offend them. It’s just so obvious how much cooler and better the other Dairy Queen is.” 13 year old field marketing researcher
How can two stores in the same franchise be so different? An innocuous trip for ice cream turned into a lesson in branding consistency.
Driving home from a late night trip to the bookstore, we stopped at the Dairy Queen A in the next town over. One person’s order reached us after we left, so we agreed to stop at another Dairy Queen B, our hometown favorite, to pick it up.
What happens when you compare and contrast two five to ten minute customer interchanges at two different branches of the same place?
Here’s a non-scientific look at how our experience compared . . .
| DQ A | DQ B | |
| signage | neon | neon + hand-drawn window lettering and designs |
| staff | no eye contact | friendly greeting |
| insects | yes, mosquitoes on babies | none |
| decor | dated | customer art gallery |
| decorations | none | party theme with streamers |
| uniforms | ice cream smears on street clothes | matching Girl Scouts Thin Mints t-shirts |
| nametags | none | stainless with names and titles |
| water | older fountain | fountain + Dasani cooler |
| restrooms | none | two |
| customers | families | little league teams |
| wait | 10 minutes | none, with four people on duty |
| presentation | cups shoved over counter | Blizzards turned upside down to show thickness |
| brochures | none | calendar of specials |
| charity | no receptacle | box stuffed to over flowing |
What if both columns matched exactly? Which store has better word of mouth?
English
6 thoughts on “Tasting PR | Branding Consistency: A Tale of 2 Dairy Queens”
Branding is always tough, no matter if it is a a franchise or any other business. But great observation either way!
Alex’s last blog post..WordPress 2.6 Creates Problem Under Disguise Of Feature
Branding is always tough, no matter if it is a a franchise or any other business. But great observation either way!
Alex’s last blog post..WordPress 2.6 Creates Problem Under Disguise Of Feature
Even if it’s a franchise and they might take decorations and brochures differently, being nice to customers, making sure they don’t wait long and that they have a nice time shopping is a must! Even if the stores, uniforms and other such details were identical, the way staffers treated their clients would have made it harder for DQ A to get recommendations.
Alina Popescu’s last blog post..Keep Your Audience In Mind Every Step of the Way
Even if it’s a franchise and they might take decorations and brochures differently, being nice to customers, making sure they don’t wait long and that they have a nice time shopping is a must! Even if the stores, uniforms and other such details were identical, the way staffers treated their clients would have made it harder for DQ A to get recommendations.
Alina Popescu’s last blog post..Keep Your Audience In Mind Every Step of the Way
It always surprises me too how different DQ stores can be. It seems like the most extreme of all the franchises in the difference between stores.
GigabyteFan’s last blog post..New Dish Network Channel: Fuel
It always surprises me too how different DQ stores can be. It seems like the most extreme of all the franchises in the difference between stores.
GigabyteFan’s last blog post..New Dish Network Channel: Fuel