How long would you queue for a Nike coffee?

Last week Team Motivii was at the TNW 2018 Conference in Amsterdam.

The event was amazing. People from around the world turned up to discuss how technology is changing the world, and everyone we spoke to was warm, friendly and engaging.

Motivii was invited to exhibit in the Future of Work section, where we found ourselves between two huge companies, Nike and Atlassian.

I’m pleased to say that even between these behemoths Motivii held its own, and the team talked to pretty much everyone who went past. We had no gimmicks, and we had no freebies: we simply relied on the charm offensive.

Nike and Atlassian, however, were giving away free coffee. That’s where it got interesting.

Take a look a look at this photo:

The queue for Nike’s coffee was always double or triple the size of the queue for Atlassian’s coffee.

I assumed that Nike’s coffee was much better, but they were using the same milk, and their coffee smelled the same...

After chatting with the baristas, I found that exactly the same coffee company was running both booths, and making exactly the same coffee.

So why were people waiting fifteen minutes for Nike coffee, when they could have taken two steps across to the Atlassian stand and had their coffee in less than a minute?

It was the power of the brand! People just felt more compelled to grab a Nike coffee, with Nike branding on the cup, than an Atlassian coffee, with Atlassian branding.

I’m not sure how well we would have done with a Motivii coffee stand… But that’s not really the point.

Powerful brands like Nike can exhibit at a conference that’s outside of their sector, lend their coolness, and attract a following. That’s why Nike’s coffee stand worked so well.

But having a team that’s motivated and keen to talk to strangers creates valuable relationships that last much longer than a cup of coffee. So thank you to Eren and Alan who helped on the Motivii stand.

OK… now to follow up with everyone we met.