Starbucks’ Latest Advertising Campaign – A Mix Of The Old And The New

Starbucks’ new advertising campaign is perhaps not particularly noteworthy to many of us, given that there are tens of brands that try to use social media to prop their brand up everyday – they are putting up posters in six major US cities and challenging users to be the first to find and post pictures on Twitter. What is interesting however, is the motivation behind the campaign, as explained by Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’ Vice President of brand, content and online. From the New York Times:

Each year, people race to post the first photos of Starbucks shops decorated in red for the holidays, he said, and on Flickr, people vie to post photos that include multiple Starbucks stores in the same shot.

“It shows a level of connection to our brand that we wouldn’t have concocted on our own,” Mr. Bruzzo said.

Starbucks is pinning all its hopes for the success of this campaign on its 1.5 million Facebook fans and 183,000 Twitter followers. At least they are clear about that. To skeptics who wonder how increased activity in the social media sphere will help a brand, Bruzzo puts it very well: “It’s the difference between launching with many millions of dollars versus millions of fans.”

For now, this seems to be a sensible strategy.

[Via the New York Times]