Flightster

Krispy Kremes, Rednecks and the Social Elite

• by Colin Wright
• on December 7th, 2010
• 4 Comments

It’s a common site in the Heartland of the United States: the glowing neon signs, the polished chrome, the gaggle of sugar-saturated children pouring out of and back into their parents’ SUVs, large cardboard boxes stuffed with donuts tucked under their arms and carried along with the tide of bodies, like trophies just won on their way back to the sacred shelves of the trophy rack.

During the 12 years I lived in the Midwest I became quite familiar with Krispy Kreme donuts, and only partially because I had a thing for donuts in those days.

Simply stated, Krispy Kreme is different than other donut shops.

From the way they make their product to the way they distribute it to the way they scatter their stores throughout the world, Krispy Kreme has managed to become a bit of a folk-legend that you tell friends about.

“Wait, they give you a free donut to eat while you’re waiting in line?!”

“Not just any free donut. You get a hot, melty glazed donut right off the conveyor belt. You can actually WATCH the thing being made. The whole process is visible from the line. It’s like a Rube Goldberg device.”

“Zounds! What’s a Rube Goldberg device?”

“That’s not important right now. Oh, and the donuts are essentially pure sugar.”

“And how!”

Yes, good ol’ Krispy Kreme has made a name for itself, but although the product is good and the business model is top-notch (they experienced an explosion of new stores back when I was in college, and continue to do well today), there is a somewhat unflattering brand association for some people in the States.

The though is, to put it delicately, that Krispy Kremes are Midwestern donuts. Donuts for people who have never been to the coast or overseas and experienced the other dominant donut companies (namely, Dunkin’ Donuts) that have the circular pastry market covered in cities like New York and Los Angeles.

I actually had someone tell me that they never tried a Krispy Kreme because they heard it was started by Ku Klux Klan members (and that the ‘KK’ acronym wasn’t just for cute-factor, but rather to associate the brand with the ‘KKK’). Of course this isn’t the case, but it illustrates the fact that for many people Krispy Kreme has a concrete Midwest/South association.

Imagine my shock when a Krispy Kreme opened up in Bangkok and rather than being seen as a ‘donut of the blue collar worker,’ it actually caught on as a high-class brand, sold alongside Dolce and Gabbana and BMW.

Since the first shop opened several months ago, every day has brought a new onslaught of customers, and the lines are always long. People wait up to an hour to snag a dozen of the sugary treats, and they proudly display the box and Krispy Kreme bag as they hail a cab or hop on the BTS to make their way home.

In Bangkok, Krispy Kremes are a luxury good; some kind of edible iPad.

“Egad!”

But WHY? Why would the same product, same brand, same everything serve as a lower-middle-class donut chain one place and as a stylish, rich-person thing to do in another? Where’s the transition?

This is something that fascinates me about traveling, because it actually happens all the time, not just for Krispy Kreme.

There are many places in the world where McDonald’s – the uber-low-budget-food option in the US – is a fancy place to go eat. A good date spot, if you want to make a good first impression. The decor is fancy, the colors different, the background music a different genre…it’s a completely different place, except that it’s not.

It works a bit like brand segmentation.

There are high-end Levi’s jeans that will cost you around $250, there are mid-range Levi’s that run about $50, and then there are the low-end ‘Levi’s Strauss’ brand (sold at Wal-Mart) that will set you back $20-30.

All of these jeans are Levi’s, but in order to tap into new markets, the folks in charge decided to adapt their brand to what different people are looking for.

Stylish, fashiony, economically comfortable people won’t mind dropping a few hundred bucks for a cool pair of jeans with a distinctive name. People who appreciate quality but don’t have that kind of money to throw around will buy their $50 jeans and love them, as they hit the right mark between quality and value. The people who get their jeans at Wal-Mart care about price above all else and will therefore find their match in Levi’s Strauss brand; it’s less designerly and more functional (and the price is right).

It works the same way when a brand moves into a foreign market.

Starbucks is all over the place, and in each location you’ll find a slightly different collection of drinks, different food options and very similar but still slightly-adjusted decor.

Now, in some parts of the world (and US, actually), Starbucks is considered a higher-end choice when it comes to getting coffee. You go there when you want a comfortable place to sit, some good food and a high-quality drink.

In other places, though, it’s got the same kind of brand that McDonald’s has in the States (namely, it’s the cheap option when you don’t have the time or money to get something better). This is especially true in places like Melbourne, Australia, where they take their coffee very seriously and consider Starbucks as fairly pathetic effort, but still feasible as a cheap alternative.

Starbucks knows this and adjusts accordingly. In some parts of the world they pull out all the stops and make the coffee experience into a luxury good, while in others they tone it down a bit, making speed and price more of a priority. This is one of the secrets to their success in so many different markets.

Perspective! What a powerful thing!

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist, one man’s redneck food is another man’s pastry of the social elite.

It’s amazing what you can learn on the road, and how many interpretations of the very same brand you can experience.

Colin Wright

Colin Wright is a minimalist, branding expert and serial entrepreneur. While running his blog Exile Lifestyle ,his branding studio Colin Is My Name and his e-publishing business ebookling. Colin travels the world (moving to a new country every 4 months), meeting up with amazing people, giving talks (to audiences ranging from tech industry professionals to college students to Catholic school girls) and hunting down new and interesting experiences.