The first reference to what we now know as "pumpkin spice" can be traced back to 1796. That's the year Amelia Simmons published
American Cookery, often regarded as the nation's first cookbook. In it she includes a recipe for "pompkin pudding," a pie made with stewed pumpkin and spiced with ginger and nutmeg. It represents a sense of goodness, natural abundance and old values that people think are good. Which is why pumpkin spice lattes bring equal parts devotion and disdain.
More importantly pumpkin spice delivers a powerful marketing punch every fall. According to Nielsen
sales of pumpkin-infused foods and drinks are up 79 percent since 2011.
It's now a $361 million dollar business. Social media intelligence technology provider
Infegy even released a report that uses social media data to explain the widespread success behind this bestselling seasonal flavor options and explains how it can be used to better understand consumers, brand loyalty, purchase intent and more.
The pumpkin spice latte now means more than coffee spiked with pumpkin and cinnamon. What started as a drink has now come to represent a certain fall-centric lifestyle thanks to IMC heavyweight Starbucks.
