Starbucks stops passengers in their tracks

Starbucks is the largest coffee-house in the world. The chain was founded in Seattle. Washington in 1971. It has 23,132 locations worldwide, including 12,937 in the United States, 2,004 in China, 1,416 in Canada, 1,135 in Japan and 849 in the United Kingdom.

Starbucks have promoted their coffee throughout different seasons of the year, introducing their 'Pumpkin Spice Latte' at Halloween, and their speciality coffee at Christmas which include;

 Caramel Brulée Latte.

 Chestnut Praline Latte.

Christmas Cookie Latte.

Eggnog Latte.

Gingerbread Latte.

Honey And Almond Hot Chocolate.

Peppermint Mocha.

Toffee Nut Latte.

The Christmas drinks over the years have become very popular, with their signature red Christmas themed cups enticing coffee lovers to purchase even more coffee. 

This year, in Kings Cross Train Station, there was a 'tree of cups' display with a member of staff handing out offers for the Starbucks in the station which were buy one coffee, and get one for free. The offer was so that you could have a coffee with a friend, ensuring that they were getting more and more people to try their coffee. The staff member was also asking people to tweet with the hashtag '#redcups' in order to create awareness of the offer and to get more people on board. This is very clever as Starbucks are essentially saving money by getting members of the public to market their product on social media for them. 

Having the Starbucks display also evokes travellers in the station to recognise their need for a drink. Marketers placed the display in front of the main departures and arrivals board in order to gain the most recognition. The consumer would then notice the display and then psychologically recognise their need for a cup of coffee and ultimately, they will not think of alternative coffee brands as the display and personal selling from the staff member will make it stay in the consumers mind. Their mind is already made up for them.

Starbucks also have adapted their cups to a Christmas theme in order to gain consumers recognition of their brand, but also to change the perceptual process of the consumer as the brand is the same, although it has changed for the season. This then makes the consumer think that something is new and they will want to try it for themselves.

I found this type of marketing to be very clever, as when I was stopped by the staff member at Starbucks and given the offer, I instantly wanted to buy a cup of coffee. The display also caught a lot of attention by people passing by and many were taking pictures to post on social media.