For $200, You Can Boil Water
3-Ways Fellow Products Transformed the Tea Kettle
Boiling water doesn’t have to cost $200. But it can if you want.
The odds are pretty high that you have something in your home for boiling water right now. All you really need is a tea kettle, or a pan on a stove, or even just a mug in a microwave.
If it’s so easy (and inexpensive) to boil water, how could you possibly convince someone to instead say, “Yes, despite the free options at home, I want the $200 option!”
And why as a business would you attempt to go that route?
Apparently, it’s not that hard at all.
Fellow Products (none of the links are affiliates, just being helpful), which began just 6-years ago, redefined what it means to make coffee, serve coffee, and yes, boil water.
Despite being able to buy a pour-over maker for $10 (like a plastic Hario V60), or a tea kettle for just $7 on Amazon, Fellow Products went the other direction.
Their pour-over and carafe set is $100. It’s so nice, and so helpful, the price-tag disappears once you start using it.
They then turned one of the most boring and mysterious processes (a watched pot never does boil) into a premium, $200 experience.
Yes, Fellow made boiling water worth talking about. They made it remarkable.
They did it using these three things:
- Price
- Material & Appearance
- The User Experience
Price.
Seth Godin says that price tells a story.
Go on Amazon and you can get a tea kettle for $7. All it does is hold water while it boils. So does the Fellow Stagg EKG+, except it’s $200.
A $7 tea kettle purchaser may think that you’re crazy for spending $200 on a water-boiler.
That’s fine. It’s not for you.
Material and Appearance
The Fellow Stagg Kettle not only performs like a $200 kettle, it LOOKS like a $200 kettle.
Options include matte black or white, or polished silver or copper. It’s beautiful. If it’s on your stove top, or behind the bar at your coffee shop, people will comment on it.
Guaranteed.
For the people who shell out $200 for it, this is why they bought.
They didn’t buy it to boil water. They bought it because it’s remarkable.
It sends a message that says, “Look, this is how I invest in myself and in my company. The finest products go into delivering you the coffee that you love.”
And the Stagg doesn’t need a stove-top to operate. It sits on a small platform that control the temperature with an electronic pulse, to the degree. The temperature it controlled with a small dial and digital screen. No thermometer necessary.
Simple? Sure. That’s the genius of it. The technology isn’t new. It doesn’t have to be.
That’s often the case with marketing. The wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented, only modified for the right customer.
The final piece is what pulls the Fellow Stagg’s brilliance together:
The User Experience.
Most kettles are bottom heavy. For you, the barista, this is awkward and cumbersome when trying to make a pour-over coffee.
It also puts more strain on your shoulder, which adds up if it’s noon and 50+ drinks have already been poured.
Fellow changed that by adding weight to the handle, and creating a place for the thumb to rest.
The Fellow Stagg’s weight is evenly distributed while pouring, not while sitting straight up. So it actually becomes easier to hold while pouring.
When you pick up a Stagg for the first time, you notice the change immediately. It’s different. And you’ll probably say something to your friend about it.
Even though you have poured water hundreds of times, all it takes is one glimpse of what could be to have your perspective changed.
Good marketing creates change. And change, good change, is worth a lot.
Thankfully, Fellow Products only charges $200 for change.
Now, would you like that in black, white, silver, or copper?
Don’t forget to Keep Going.
