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.