Purpose of Marketing Maven Blog

The purpose of this blog is to share marketing "hits" and "misses."

-The first marketing "miss" that comes to mind is Starbuck's recent Via tasting challenge. I went to three Starbuck's in one day to test the execution of marketing's Via launch. The first Starbuck's gave me a taste in a small dixie cup, but nothing to compare with (in other words, not their regularly brewed cofee). Also, no coupon was given for a complimentary coffee. The second Starbuck's gave me a "true" taste challenge, where I had two different coffees to compare with. However, one of the coffees I tried was bottled and cold, which was naturally the Via - not really a "challenge." But to their credit, I received a coupon and was able to use it immediately for a free coffee. The third Starbuck's was more of a free-for-all, with dixie cups set up on a counter for people to grab and taste - where was the "challenge?"

From what I observed, Starbuck's marketing execution of the new Via was not very consistent, which is a shame considering the amount of advertising dollars spent on commercials to get customers into the store. Inside store/sales training is crucial to flawless marketing execution. Companies can spend years developing a new product, but it can "all be for not" if it appears that the staff doesn't care, or is unsure of what to do. Companies should spend the time on orchestrating a flawless execution - especially when setting up customer expectations, as in the case of the Starbuck's Via launch.