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FIELD NOTES FROM A FRACTIONAL CMO
Coffee is one of the few products where a person can spend seven dollars, wait twelve minutes, receive eight ounces of liquid, and still believe he has made a disciplined financial decision.
This is not a criticism. It is an observation.
I should admit something up front: I have not had coffee in over 30 years. Earlier in life, I made up for that by drinking two or three pots a day, which means I have known coffee both as a beverage and as a legally available personality enhancement program.
So while I no longer drink it, I understand the ritual.
I also understand the staying power of coffee marketing. I can still hear “Good to the last drop” in my head, which either proves the power of great advertising or confirms that I have reached the age where old commercials now occupy space that could have been used for passwords.
Either way, the lesson is the same.
A good coffee slogan does not just describe taste. It attaches the product to memory.
And coffee may be the perfect example of something we pretend is about product quality.
People say it is about flavor: the roast, the origin, the grind, the temperature, the water, the extraction, the crema, and the mouthfeel, which is a word adults apparently agreed to say in public.
And yes, quality matters.
But coffee is rarely just coffee.
That is why the same category can hold Folgers crystals and civet coffee.
Folgers crystals say, “We are not here to discuss mouthfeel. We are here to become functional.”
Civet coffee says, “At some point, an animal ate this, processed it, and someone still found a way to charge more.”
I do not know who made that first sales call, but I would like to meet him.
Because that is not selling coffee. That is selling story, rarity, curiosity, status, and the human willingness to say, “Well, if it is expensive, there must be a reason.”
Community Coffee carries a different kind of meaning. It feels regional, familiar, and inherited. It is the coffee your family, your office, your church kitchen, or your neighbor might have served without announcing that a brand experience was underway.
Starbucks is something else entirely. Starbucks does not just sell coffee. It sells a repeatable ritual: the cup, the order, the name on the label, and the comfortable predictability of knowing that wherever you are, someone can still charge you seven dollars for emotional stability in liquid form.
Truck-stop coffee says, “I have miles to cover and no time to discuss tasting notes.”
A boutique pour-over says, “I have made time for this, and possibly own a scale.”
Dunkin’ says, “Keep moving.”
Nespresso says, “I have brought the hotel lobby into my kitchen.”
None of these meanings are accidental.
They are positioning.
Coffee brands understand ritual better than almost anyone. They know people are not only buying caffeine. They are buying a moment, a mood, a signal, a habit, a small daily piece of control.
That is the lesson for every business.
Customers may explain their decisions in rational terms: price, quality, convenience, features, service, performance. But underneath those explanations, there is often something deeper: identity, relief, belonging, status, memory, comfort, or ritual.
A fractional CMO’s job is to find that deeper layer.
Because when companies only market the product, they sound like everyone else. But when they understand what customers are really buying, they can build a category, not just a campaign.
Coffee may begin as beans and water.
But by the time it reaches the customer, it has become energy, identity, comfort, taste, status, routine, community, and occasionally a very expensive reminder that someone once looked at an animal’s digestive process and said, “I think we can premium-price this.”
And somewhere, the person who sold America on kale is probably taking notes.
CEO & Founder, Fractional CMO Section
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