Engaged Fans Promoting Starbucks on Facebook

The image at left is a screenshot of a Facebook application dubbed "My Starbucks." I received an invitation to join it by way of my Facebook friend, Betty. "My Starbucks" Facebook widget enables fans of Starbucks to have a conversation around their beloved brand.

It's also possible that engaged fans (like Betty) could persuade a few new folks to think about (or try) Starbucks, based on a personal endorsement. When Betty (or any trusted friend) points me to something they believe might be of interest to me, I am inclined to take a look. It's another marketing touchpoint for Starbucks. This is the power of social networking, the power of the groundswell.

The beauty of this, and the take-away point: "My Starbucks" was created by two college grad students from Wisconsin. It wasn't created by Starbucks. And it has 4,565 active users.

Repeat: Starbucks didn't hire them to do it ... or authorize them to do it. They were driven to do it on their own. And that carries far more credibility than if Starbucks created this and tried to dump it on their customer base.

Here's a bit of description from the introduction page:

About My Starbucks®
Starbucks® is moving from every street corner to a profile corner near you. My Starbucks® lets you sport your favorite drink, send drinks to your friends, and caffeinate your Facebook experience!

Update (Dec 14th)
We have been listening. There is now a drop down link on the order page to get "Advanced Options." Now there are tons more options to make your drink yours! Have fun, keep the ideas coming, but we do like to sleep some times! :-)

Disclaimer
The developers of and this application are in no way affiliated with Starbucks®. This application is for the enjoyment of fans and customers of the company.

Supposedly, this widget enables users to order their favorite Starbucks beverage (in advance, online) via Facebook for pick-up at the Starbucks location of their choosing. From what I could see in the comments, the application still has a few technical kinks to be resolved. But who cares. In our new Web 2.0 environment, you only need to inspire some customers to become fans. Look what they can do ... to help you, or to hurt you. Starbucks has absolutely no control over this.

The point is this: Marketing geniuses around the world are learning how to tap into the power of Web 2.0 and social networks, benefiting from the groundswell!

And here's a great resource, if you'd like to learn more: Next Generation Marketing.

A fantastic new book from which to learn more: Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research.

Starbucks: Charlie from Bridgeport, WV

Allow me to introduce you to Charlie (photographed with permission by yours truly). Charlie is a barrista.

Scratch that. Charlie is a coffee guru. He knows coffee and espresso. He's passionate. Truly enthusiastic about coffee. It is obvious to anyone that Charlie loves what he does.

Wednesday afternoon, we made it a point to visit Charlie's Starbucks in Bridgeport, West Virginia. We've been following this whole Starbucks turnaround, along with several other bloggers, with great interest.

And so, on this cold, damp, windy March Wednesday, we wondered: following last week's company wide three-hour training shutdown ...

Would there be any palpable difference?
Had things changed inside this one Starbucks store?
Would we be able to notice anything?
What would employees report about the training episode?

We could not help but get caught up in Charlie's enthusiasm about coffee, as we listened to him advise a patron on choice of beverage. Painting an elaborate and engaging word picture, Charlie built the customer a caramel macchiato ... layer by layer. Ingredient by ingredient. Step by step. At each juncture, Charlie explained how each process and each layer added to the taste, texture and feel of the drink.

After eavesdropping on aforementioned conversation, we talked with (interrupted, quite truthfully) Charlie about the training.

Did last week's three-hour training make a difference? "Yes. The company has traditionally relied on a lot of book learning for new-employee training and orientation," Charlie explained.

"This week's training was hands-on. It allowed our employees to see, touch, feel, smell and hear how to make great espresso. How to serve it. It's one thing to read about it. It's another thing to demonstrate and to try it out. They encouraged us to make some mistakes ... milk that has been oversteamed and such. And to study the goof-ups. We all learned some things. I think it was much needed and it was beneficial."

Charlie continued, "I am really excited about having Howard Schultz personally involved in the business again. That really helps."

The answers to all of our questions had become evident in the form of Charlie and his passion. Kudos to Charlie and everyone everywhere who loves what they do. And here's to marketing genius Howard Schultz: congratulations on building a great brand--and having the pride, commitment and courage to rebuild it.

Post Script - In the name of balance and full disclosure, the staff did not ask our names to assign to our orders, nor did they call us by name to announce our drinks were ready. That would have been a nice touch. But I certainly appreciated the young lady's suggestion of a Peppemint Mocha, and it tasted especially delicious this time. It was richer and I sort of nursed it for about 40 minutes, instead of chugging it.

Starbucks: Did They Jump the Shark?

Note: we are jumping on board with Jay Ehret and company over at "The Marketing Spot" to provide commentary (and advice) on Starbucks and its ongoing efforts to remake, fix and improve its business.

The image at left is the July 2004 issue of Fast Company. As you will note, the lead cover story is about Starbucks. "Thinking Outside the Cup. Surprise! Starbucks is making a bold push into music."

The question, as we sit here in 2008, is: was it a bold push, or an ill-advised push?

The Fast Company article postulates that Starbucks foray into music, providing downloadable music for purchase in its retails outlets, would in disruptive fashion render traditional music vendors such as Tower Records, HMV and Virgin Megastore obsolete.

"What Schultz had come across was a group of music stores with something of a cult following in the Bay Area. Hear Music was one of the first stores in the country to introduce the now-universal concept of the 'listening station.'

In its intimacy, quality and customer focus, Hear Music must have reminded Schultz very much of his own company. And the rest of the music industry must have looked a lot like Maxwell House."

"We never dreamed we'd be sitting on the unique opportunity we're sitting on now," he said. "We just saw that they were doing for music what we had done for coffee."

Unique? That would appear to have been a stretch. What each player had done was innovate. But then Starbucks attempted to replicate, instead of innovate.

"What you're left with is this very broad audience, made up of the core Starbucks customer, who loves music and can't find it, Schultz said. "We have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this."

No doubt, the psychographic potential of the brand extension was alluring. But what about iTunes and other online music vendors? Did Starbucks underestimate their potential and power ... their competitive threat? Were they, perhaps, caught off-guard?

There's a phrase in the movie and TV business--"jumping the shark." It's that fateful, irreversible moment when the program, or series, goes too far. It strays too far from its core concept or storyline ... and loses credibility. Typically, such shows do not recover.

In my estimation, this article from July 2004 captures for posterity that moment when Starbucks jumped the shark.

Cut to February 26, 2008. Starbucks closed every single one of its stores for three hours. They spent that time getting back to their essence, their core. They took 3 hours (times 7,100 stores) to train their baristas (employees) on how to make and serve great espresso. Here's the corporate news release on this event. This equates to 500,000 hours of training time.

I applaud Starbucks for this tough, but necessary, refocusing intiative. Time will tell its impact. Still, I remain a devoted Starbucks fan and customer, and I wish them well.

Snowflakes Spotted & Starbucks Red Cup

Jim Nester and I were up in Bridgeport, West Virginia today. Coming out of Starbucks, we saw a few, scattered snowflakes in the air. Though it seems early, last year's first flurries were in late October, as I recall.

Also, big news for all Starbucks fans like me, the annual Red Cup promo rolls out tomorrow! I am always impressed with the planning, coordination, execution and creativity that this brings.