News from the Bucks

In case you fell like you haven't been adequately inundated with Starbucks marketing as of late, I thought I would discuss it, inspired by the extremely heavy rotation of their commercials in the mornings.

I've never been a big fan of Starbucks coffee. I think it's too expensive.

I think it tastes burnt.

And at the risk of exposing my serious lack of sophistication, I admit that the bottomless coffee at IHOP rivals it.

But that's not to say that their most recent ad blitz isn't interesting. I appreciate them for embracing the fundamentals of modern marketing--getting the customer involved.

Talking with them rather than at them.

Letting the product speak for itself.

Apparently they've been developing Via, their instant coffee product, for 20 years. It's a scary thing to move to instant. You don't want to cheapen your $4/cup brand, but you want to make it accessible to peeps who aren't near a store at a given moment, but have a hankering for a nice cup o bucks.

After all, instant coffee is a $20 billion market.

Starbucks just had to tap that eventually.

As far as the marketing goes, the idea is to get customers into one of the 7,500 Starbucks stores in the US to do a taste test of the real stuff and the instant stuff. Regardless of your coffee tasting prowess, the thank-you card is good for a free cup of coffee and $1 off the instant stuff.

As it is now, the instant stuff is only available at Starbucks stores, REI (I've always said that camping should not equate to terrible coffee), Office Depot, Compass, United Airlines, Barnes & Noble cafes, and Marriott and Omni Hotels.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.

Would you guys try it out?

In other innovative Starbucks news, the coffee giant is now accepting mobile payments. In short, your iPhone = your Starbucks card. Ah, technology.