On The Inside

I heard a presentation this morning by Brian Waring, VP of Marketing and Category at Starbucks.

He touched on the brand’s roots and heritage but focused in on more recent initiatives to open the brand up to its customers and enable them to direct the future of the company.

His words reminded of a recent email I received as a result of signing-up for My Starbucks which informed me that the Pumpkin Spice Latte was again available in-store (in the ‘third place’).

Nothing special in that you would say, a straight selling message?

It was of course exactly that but the ‘magic touch’ in the email was that the Pumpkin Spice was not being promoted or available ‘over the counter’ on the menu. The promise was that those in the know could ask for it and with a nudge and a wink the barristers would create it for you.

A ‘nudge nudge, wink wink’ kinda product, only available to those on the inside.

As I said once before, it’s the little things …….