Ode to the Red Cup

It's that time of year folks!! Halloween has just ended, November has commenced, and people have broken out the Christmas tunes (or in my case have upped the ante by publicly singing All I Want For Christmas Is You). I don't know about anyone else but every year I countdown to the day that Starbucks releases their annual holiday cups. For some reason, these festive red cups bring an unparalleled amount of joy into my life. If you're judging me for this statement, may I fondly suggest you go purchase a peppermint mocha and proceed to reevaluate. 

Last year's holiday cup was absolutely spectacular. But Starbucks has decided to blow away expectations and incorporate their loyal customers into the festivities. Yesterday, I anxiously got my paws around my first red cup of the season and was even more excited when I read the copy on the cup. As I sipped round one of my pumpkin spice latte, I read this "Our friends think of us as an odd couple, but we only think it's odd when we're apart. www.starbucks.com/share" WHAT BETTER WAY TO GET IN THE GIVING SEASON then to have your customers log onto a unique landing page all about your brand and the sharing and giving of the holiday season. Even better than the quotes on the cup are the "coffee cozys" that have "Stories are gifts. share" printed on them. It's sentiments like these that make me a sucker for the Christmas season.

http://www.starbucks.com/share/

Now even if I didn't have a heavy handed love affair with all things Starbucks, I would think this campaign tapped into what most consumers feel at the start of the holiday season. Even if by mid December you want to poke out the eyeballs of the every blown up Santa Claus storefront, the beginning of November finds most people breaking out Andy Williams Christmas carols with holiday fervor.

Starbucks has always had an interactive social media campaign that takes customer service to the next level. The MyStarbucks Idea campaign takes the best of online marketing and relationship building and creates a hub of online activity unique to the Starbucks brand. With the release of the red cup and the "share" campaign, Starbucks is taking the festivities beyond the usual Peppermint mochas, Gingerbread lattes and Eggnog lattes and creating a space where customers can share stories, interact via Facebook and learn more about what Starbucks is doing to make this holdiay special including "the 12 days of sharing." I think that in the future Starbucks will be one of the case studies to look to when  studying success stories about creating online conversations and building online customer relationships using new media.
As @LaurenB tweeted yesterday "When your customers are annually excited about the release of a red cardboard cup, you are probably doing a good job branding." And I couldn't agree more!


Oh and has anyone else heard about the new Trenta size? This sounds to good to be true!

There's A Reason for the Season

Beautiful snow covered Beacon Hill

I'm not sure what is going this year, but it seems Mother Earth has made the decision to jump from summer straight into winter. I have never been a huge fan of fall- please just give me snow, Starbucks holiday cups, and festive cheer- forget about the changing of the leaves and apple picking. Unfortunately what comes with psychotic Boston weather is the onslaught of holiday marketing and advertising. Every year it feels like stores, both big and small, feel the need to put up their holiday displays earlier and earlier. The onslaught begins with Halloween and ends with New Years. Before we know it we'll be buying Halloween costumes mid-July and purchasing Christmas gifts and baking Christmas cookies dressed in tank tops and shorts.

Now usually I am in agreement with most of the universe in believing that stores are celebrating these holidays way too far in advance, but this year I find myself listening to Christmas tunes before the leaves have barely started to change. I am eagerly awaiting this years Starbucks holiday cup and cannot wait for Halloween to be over so that stores put up there Christmas trees and start playing Christmas carols. Even as I write this, I find myself listening to Mariah Carey's single Oh Santa.

Perhaps I am experiencing this sudden turn in feelings cause I feel the distressed and depressed world pressing down around me and hope some Christmas cheer will plaster a smile on your face. Even if its a fake cheery atmosphere, I love the holidays. Some people find the overall cheeriness depressive. I on the other hand, can't wait to wish random people on the street "Merry Christmas and Happy Holdiays!" It is the season of giving after all. During the two or so months of infectious cheer, the world is in a generally happier mood. It isn't until the realization that another year has passed and New Years resolutions start breaking, that world sets back into an overall gloomy atmosphere.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

All I'm saying is that the world deserves a much needed break from incessantly worrying about the economy, job market, and general life craziness. This is what the holidays are all about. This is why I'm beginning to realize that it doesn't matter if your local Macys decides to put up their Christmas displays on November 1. In the end, I believe, this is all about spreading cheer.

For the Love of Marc Jacobs

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

Its a tough world out there for college students. We study hard, we work hard and we play hard. We do all of these things so passionately that most of the time we find ourselves so strung out and stressed that we end up singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at 11 p.m. during the last minutes of the work shift. Well, this was me last night and let me tell you, this is not an isolated incident. I don't know if this impromptu performance was inspired by the horrific, gloomy Boston weather or because I want the holiday season so badly that I am consuming Pumpkin Spice Lattes at an extremely alarming rate. Anyhow, the life of the college student is a constant struggle. A daily battle between Father Time, the dreaded bank account, and the urge to throw my hands up and surrender to my over-stuffed comforter. It is in these desperate times that I have to remember the beautiful pleasures in life. The small things that I don't often get the chance to do because I am so focused on graduation and the impending (and yet very exciting) doom of real life. This is where my love of all things Marc Jacobs enters.

As a broke joke college student, I don't really have the luxury to go purchasing designer items whenever I am feeling down and in desperate need of retail therapy. But thanks to Marc Jacobs and the launch of the brand's new e-commerce site last week, I can now drift off into a fantasy world from the comfort of my own Macbook. What makes this site so exciting is that it goes beyond the ordinary website that merely show the fall or spring runway shows. It actually enables the consumer to purchase items without having to venture to Newbury Street to visit a boutique. When I find myself with a few extra dollars to spare, I can simply log onto www.marcjacobs.com and shop till I drop without actually getting my lazy self out of my bed. Or in the middle of class when I find myself drifting into the far reaches of my mind. Admit it, we all daydream more than we'd like to.

The storefront of marcjacobs.com

E-commerce sites are the latest trend in  the fashion industry, a lot of brands have realized the potential growth available through a direct online store instead of being sold through third party sites like Net-a-Porter, BlueFly, or Gilt Groupe. E-commerce sites make it that much easier for the suburban woman or college student to make a personal connection with a brand. A brand's site provides a unique experience that one like BlueFly cannot provide. It offers the ability for the customer to truly grasp the core ideas and beliefs behind the brand. The Marc Jacobs site was designed to look like a miniature dollhouse complete with sales representatives to guide you through the store and answer your every question. The store is unique to the Marc Jacobs brand. You certainly would not find male "sales associates" dressed in a woman's clothing on the Chanel site.

These sites provide the much needed escape from the everyday grind. It just so happens that one of the pleasures in my life is shopping- a pleasure that I do not get to enjoy often. But with the launch of e-commerce sites like Marc Jacobs, I find myself taking comfort in the world of Marc Jacobs with just a click of a button.