On August 23rd Starbucks sent out an email to some of its Atlanta employees and business partners inviting them to enjoy a free coffee. The email said they could forward it to a few family and friends as well. Well apparently those folks have a lot of family and friends. The emails wound up being sent across the country, resulting in an influx of the coupons on a scale that Starbucks simply never anticipated. It got so big and out of control Starbucks canceled the promotion, saying that the wider-than-expected redistribution altered the intent of the promotion.
I get why Starbucks canceled the deal, of course. But still - how many of you out there would love to have this problem?
1. " The emails wound up being sent across the country, resulting in an influx of the coupons on a scale that Starbucks simply never anticipated."
Very interesting incident. I think this could help Starbucks to understand how much it has become famous in USA. I think that Starbucks should have gone ahead with this program. It is a better PR Activity than million dollars commercial.
Posted at 8:45AM on Sep 5th 2006 by Razib Ahmed