where's the catch?

At first, it came as a surprise, why a cafe brand would send me a promotional complimentary drink, considering I rarely patronize their beverages, and seldom even hang-out at their branches. I am partial to the green-and-white brand, whose logo is so ubiquitously gay – the mermaid.

But, as I am a cheapskate and a sucker for all sorts of swag and freebies, I decided to heed the invitation to peruse their website, where the promise of a free beverage had my mouth salivating in anticipation. Of course, all manners of promotional campaigns come with a fine print, and I was waiting for the catch all along.

Once the registration page loaded, my questions were undeniably answered – the brand wanted to spread the word by way of mass-messaging, online style. I was hesitant at first, as I wouldn't know how my online contacts would react to this caffeinated form of spamming. But I figured, they can just as easily hit the spam filter and forsake this invitation to digital oblivion. And besides, free coffee is free coffee.

So with the coupon printed, and my ID in tow, I headed to the branch I chose to redeem my complimentary coffee. And at the counter, the promotion finally made sense. The whole free-drink scenario was concocted as a sly seduction to get people to visit their branches, where the unprepared will find himself being sold a glorified coffee machine, branded and Italian at that, that suspiciously reminds me of the recently released Nescafe De Gusto line. The free drink will be prepared with this new industrial-esthetic contraption that screams diner-chic, with capsules just like the De Gusto brand, of course at a competitive price that rivals our office's recently acquired, and broken, De Longhi coffee machine.

The CBTL System and capsules

My Free Beverage

It may be underhanded and utterly crass, to have people lured with the promise of a free drink, and then have them wait there at the counter while a crew prepares their dirnk with the coffee system being marketed, all the while explaining the finer points and advantages of purchasing said coffee system for the home, or the office. It felt a tad bitter, having my beverage be made a product of an advertising ploy, but I realized this is where the genius of this strategy lay, to get the word out by way of those who actually enjoy drinking quality coffee. However, isn't it ironic that those who would go for free coffee are really not the sort of people who'll be in the business of purchasing expensive coffee systems? Just my two cents. All in all, anything received free tastes just as sweet, or even sweeter. Or maybe bitter, if one prefers theirs black.

Images are the author's own.

Learn more about the CBTL system here.