Don’t know about you, but our MINT Brand Marketing team is very excited about pumpkin spice season! Pumpkin Spice lattes (PSL) started 20 years ago when Starbucks released its first line of fall drinks, and ever since then, pumpkin spice has grown into its own staple piece in the fall season.
However, did you know that pumpkin spice is also a big part of seasonal marketing? Our MINT specialists broke down the ways in which pumpkin spice influences the fall season of marketing.
The Pumpkin Spice Feels
Pumpkin spice is a drink that brings on the fall feels – colder weather, football season, sweaters, flannels, apple orchards, and pumpkin patches. But, why is that? The answer is the marketing around the drink. Seeing photos, videos, and social posts of friends and family enjoying their fall drink at games, watching a movie, etc. makes you want to join in on the fall activities and by adding the pumpkin spice latte to the event, you are bringing out the fall feels.
Think of Pumpkin Spice as a brand color. A brand color gives emotions to the brand. They remind us of a specific brand when we see that specific color. For example, the color red may remind you of Target. Target may bring on feelings of happiness, excitement, and fun. Just like how pumpkin spice brings on the feelings of warmth, fall, and connections with family and friends.
The Pumpkin Spice Style
Not only does pumpkin spice bring on the fall feelings but it is also a date that brings on a change in time. A change in time means a change of seasons and fashion. It is time to pull out those comfy sweaters, leggings, and boots because fall is here and summer is gone. This has to do with how we market pumpkin spice. When pumpkin spice begins, fall fashion is in!
Pumpkin Spice Marketing
Pumpkin Spice has become a very popular trend on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. It is one trend that keeps getting more significant year by year, and it is the time of year many PSL fans look forward to. But, how does this trend still live? Well, it is because each year Starbucks comes out with new ideas to make the season feel more personal. They have done personal “newsletters” from PSL, they have done feel-good graphics, they have changed the menu to incorporate new drink ideas and bring back the fan favorites, and they make it limited so that you cannot get the drink all year.
Not only does Starbucks keep the trend alive but so do many clothing brands. Their marketing usually involves people drinking warm drinks and enjoying themselves in their fall fashion. This gives customers the idea that if they wear these fall clothes and drink a yummy fall drink they will be happy just like the models in the ads.
Goodbye Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, Hello Pumpkin Spice
A Pumpkin Spice latte may be known as a delicious fall drink but a pumpkin spice latte is a representation of how good marketing can turn it into a holiday, a style, a theme, a change in season, etc. All it takes is a little spice.
So, what are you most excited about this fall season? Do you envision yourself drinking a pumpkin spice in that activity?
