Food shaped product
There are many products whose actual functions are not consistent with how they look. Examples include the donut shaped tape made by 3M, the burger shaped/fries shaped/coke shaped USB memory stick promoted by Burger King, and chocolate shaped mirror promoted by Meiji, a Japanese chocolate company. After discussing why they have shapes of food, my Japanese friend pointed me a website in which a Japanese designer keeps posting his/her design prototypes (Prototype 1000). Worth a visit.
Do consumers like a product when they find a gap from a product between its actual function and its function inferred from its design? Or, do consumers simply want to be different from others by carrying those unique products?
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I think it’s both. Most of the time, people tend to see something beyond their expectations and also love to own it when there are not a lot of people that have the item. It does not seem like there is some kind of connection between Burger King and USB memory sticks; however, it does seem like lots of consumers will find it interesting to see that those memory sticks do not look like regular ones in the past. Not to mention they will probably want to keep it just because it looks fancy and unique, well, at least I would love to keep one of those. Now I’m pretty sure you won’t easily find a USB memory stick that is donut-shaped. I’ve concluded that no matter how irrelevant two brands are, consumers will positively respond to the outcome as long as the final product looks cute and fancy enough to draw their attentions. I really like the idea how Burger King has promoted itself by having USB memory sticks represent their brand! It’s really cute!