Marketing principles - The law of the middle

The law of the middle

Always color inside the lines

Some decades ago McDonalds sold only two sizes of soft drinks; an 8 oz. small and a 16 oz. large. When McDonalds introduced a new 32 oz. large size and re-named its 16 oz drink as 'medium,' total sales increased. A significant percentage of customers switched from the small size to the new medium size, even though the absolute size of the drinks had not changed. The perception had changed.

One theory involves a human tendency to avoid extremes. With only two options there is nothing but low price - high price extremes. The addition of a third size created a middle option, and people feel comfortable keeping to the middle. Not only does it work to introduce a middle ground where none existed before, it also works to raise the average sale by adding higher priced options to the menu. Moving the high side extreme up moves the middle up too. This has been demonstrated to work, even if the highest priced options are never purchased themselves.

If the theory has validity, one might expect the same effect should be seen on the bottom side when lower priced options move the minimum extreme down. Average sales will decrease when the middle shifts lower.

But, maybe make it up on volume.