The new popular drink that everyone has been talking about lately is the ‘Unicorn Frappuccino’ from Starbucks. This drink promises to make unicorn (and sugar) lovers’ dreams come true. Starbucks used the slogan “As rare as…a unicorn. The color-changing, flavor-changing #UnicornFrappuccino–here for a limited time at participating stores.” Starbucks did good PR work here with using a play on words with the drinks rare appearance, just like a unicorn. Starbucks was only making this drink available from April 19-23.
Starbucks was trying to reach the target audience of the younger crowd since kids usually go to smaller coffee shops in their own towns that appeal more to them. Jokes were written in the paper and on the news saying that it tasted like a naughty child’s birthday party. This fun colored drink was more noticeable with the purple, blue, and pink color combination. The PR for this was great getting the word out since several Starbucks’ sold out quickly.
Here are 3 lessons to takeaway from this Starbucks drink experience:
1.) Make it Urgent
If your company wants a new product to be sought-after or the main topic of conversation, then make sure to make it be sold for a limited time only. Putting a time restrain on a product will make the customers curious as to why it is only being sold for so long and they will feel like they need to buy it before it is gone for forever. Even if they do not want to purchase it, curiosity make spike and people will make it go viral, researching the product, creating talk, impressions, and likes on social media. Creating urgency and generating that buzz will make you a great profit from this marketing strategy.
2.) Remember Your Employees
Unfortunately, this drink did not taste good according to the majority of the Starbucks employees. The co-workers complained that the ingredients stained their hands/clothes when making it, as well as making the store a gross, sticky environment. Starbucks employees were also complaining about making them since the process for putting all of the ingredients together took so long and was considered disgusting. Remembering your employees is a huge deal because they are the ones who are the storytellers for your PR and if they are not sharing positive feedback, then your campaign or product will look like a failure. Employees greatly effect your reputation and brand, so make sure they are somewhat happy as well or else conflict behind the scenes may occur.
3.) Encourage Over-The-Top Reactions
Love your fans! People who are liking, favoriting, commenting, sharing, posting pictures, facebooking, tweeting, retweeting, snap chatting, or using Instagram for mentioning your product is a huge success and compliment. Every post makes a difference so make sure to encourage people to keep up their excitement and love for your company and product. A quote from a Twitter post stated, “Unicorn Frappuccino? It’s like Starbucks went into my heart and wrote me a liquid love song.” There were numerous comments that enhanced positivity and good vibes for promoting the brand. The bigger the reaction, the better. Make sure to celebrate with the fans and make it known that you care about their happiness!
https://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/22556.aspx
By Lindsy Hentschel, Junior Account Executive, KCCC
