Last month after I wrote about the Flavia coffee redesign, I received an email from a representative of Mars Drinks commenting on my post. The representative also sent me some marketing information about a study they conducted “on the affect of Flavia on workplace productivity.” A couple points in the study jumped out at me. The first (reprinted with permission):
Workers Who Have FLAVIA Feel More Valued: when FLAVIA was added to the workplace, 50% of respondents said it made them feel more valued and appreciated.
I don’t drink coffee, but I find this statement accurate. When I worked at Kodak, the coffee drinkers had to pool their money together to buy their own office coffee because Kodak did not provide coffee. At ESPN, though, we are provided with complimentary coffee and tea, and even though I don’t drink the coffee, having my employer provide this seemingly small amenity does indeed make me feel more valued and appreciated.
Even more, though, I agree with this statement from the study:
FLAVIA: The New Watercooler: The FLAVIA machine has become the new face-to-face touch point in the office, with 54% of respondents saying that FLAVIA had a positive impact on how often they interacted with their colleagues.
I can’t count the number of times that coworkers and I met in the break room at the Flavia machine to talk either business or pleasure while they were making coffee. Either we deliberately say let’s go take a walk, which means let’s go get a coffee (or water for me), or I run into coworkers in the break room because they’re getting their coffee fix, but the break room and the Flavia machine in our office indeed is a casual and oft-used gathering place for us.
And here it is, our Flavia machine:
