Starbucks has launched a campaign with the hope to target a new generation of coffee drinkers. The goal? To get them to tweet about it, of course!
Starbucks is putting up posters in six major cities, and has challenged people to post a picture on Twitter of one of the posters today. The first five to post are rewarded with a Starbucks Gold Card with $20 on it.
As one of the biggest marketing efforts Starbucks has had to date, the goal of this particular campaign is to tell the Starbucks story- about a company that truly values the quality of their coffee. This message is particularly important to those of the new generation who have grown up with Starbucks as a commodity.
The ads themselves are a flashback to ads in the ‘60s and ‘70s, heavy on the copy- as Starbucks hopes to evoke the message that there’s a lot to say about coffee. Some worry this is not the approach to take with this generation- for which Starbucks may not be about the coffee for this generation, but rather is about the atmosphere and a place to hang out.
Starbucks understands that Social Media Marketing is key for this campaign. Some of you might remember that on Election Day, Starbucks gave away free coffee to anyone who voted. What you may not know is how all the buzz about the giveaway started. Leading up to Election Day, Starbucks had a single 60-second TV commercial on SNL advertising the giveaway, and posted the video online. By the time Election Day came, this video was the 4th most viewed on YouTube- not to mention, Starbucks was being tweeted about every eight seconds.
With 1.5 million fans on Facebook and 183,000 followers on Twitter, Starbucks hopes this campaign will create the buzz it’s looking for.
For more on this new Starbuck’s campaign, check out the NY Times Article.
