Creative Thinking Rant: Temperature Sensitive Coca-Cola Ice Cube Cans Are Okay

Woody Bendle has guest authored several rants on the Brainzooming blog, so I figured I’d take a run at one myself.

Photo via: http://www.thedieline.com/

A Creative Thinking Rant

A Fast Company article this week from John Brownlee whines excessively about a design change on Coca-Cola cans and the perceived lack of creative thinking behind it. Coca-Cola has apparently redesigned its cans so ice cubes depicted on the can change color to indicate when the contents are adequately chilled.

The article complains about the move as a needless design change others have already done that presents no practical benefits for Coca-Cola drinkers - other than for those “people without hands” who want a cold Coke.

These types of articles are so annoying – and so lacking in creative thinking, ironically.  They seem primarily written to:

• Ride a current news wave - since Coke will be publicizing the change, driving interest
• Gain SEO impact – by catching people searching on Coke
• Provide a high-visibility gathering place for other creative thinking whiners – since it seems people love nothing more than piling on to a needlessly contrarian article, especially on a major website

Temperature Sensitive Coca-Cola Ice Cube Cans Are Okay

As an avid drinker of pop (as we call it here in the Midwest) although not a frequent Diet Coke drinker, I can name at least five situations where this feature delivers a benefit:

1. Someone else placed a can of pop in the fridge, and you can do a visual check on whether it's chilled.
2. A can may feel cold, but the contents are warmer than you'd imagine or prefer.
3. A can was just put into an ice chest at a public event, and you can tell in advance if they try to sell it to you while it's still warm.
4. A can is in an ice chest and you don't want to have to get your hands sopping wet only to discover the pop isn't chilled yet.
5. You have one of those expensive fridges with glass doors, and you save energy by not opening the door to check whether the can is cold.

All but number 5 have taken place for me in the past several weeks. Number 3 was especially frustrating since I paid a buck for a warm Diet Coke straight from an ice chest at an event.

So yes, there ARE reasons why this design change delivers a benefit.

Just maybe writers who specialize at complaining about someone else’s perceived lack of creative thinking would do well to spend a few moments doing their own creative thinking to come up with some ideas that are more winning than whining. - Mike Brown

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