Free Starbucks Coffee

Everyday coffee for the everyman? From the man who made $4 lattes a small luxury item, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz fails to recognize the contradiction in pushing an ordinary cup of Joe as the company's latest innovation. This week, Starbucks announced the launch of its "Pike Street Roast" with free Starbucks coffee tastings set up across the country. When you get right down to it, the coffee behemoth is trying to tell us what's new is that they're brewing a fresh cup of coffee.

The Bitterness of Starbucks Coffee. My guess is that consumers have told them that their burnt, over roasted beans are too strong a taste for most Americans. "Pike Street Roast" is what Starbucks is calling "our smoothest coffee ever". Starbucks has been held up as a marketing case study for not marketing a product but a lifestyle. So how sexy an appeal is the everyday? Starbucks seems to be missing the point entirely but feels it can woo java addicted consumers with a tasting of free Starbucks coffee.

The Emperor Has No New Cup Of Coffee. Schultz was last CEO 8 years ago. As Chairman of Starbucks, Schultz puts himself back in the hot seat. Reinstated to protect declining share prices, Chairman and now CEO Schultz is upfront in an interview April 9, 2008 with Business Week's Maria Bartiromo about the company's failure to maintain the entrepreneurial creativity and innovation that established the world's largest coffee pusher. Schultz is entering dangerous territory as the market leader in gourmet coffee in an ironic twist of trying to chase coffee competitors like 7-11, Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's by trying to gain ground with an everyday roast at extraordinary prices backed up by an extensive campaign of free Starbucks coffee tastings.

"The Proof is in the Cup" is what Starbucks is claiming and the launch of "Pike Street Roast" is touted as a thank you to customers, developed in conjunction with feedback from customers and Batista's. The launch is complimented by what's being called "Pike Place Roast Cafes", temporary pop-up cafes set up across the country, with the same plush, casual seating that typifies Starbucks. Dallas is set up as the first cafe to offer tastings of free Starbucks coffee.

Taste For Yourself. Sample tastings of free Starbucks coffee are being launched at community events in neighborhoods across the country in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C. until the end of May. Click here for specific dates and times.

Just For Fun. Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton as Starbucks Barista by career change expert Pamela Skillings in a blog "Escape from Corporate America" with Top 7 Job Ideas for Hillary Clinton (Just In Case that Presidential Thing Doesn't Work Out.

Sources:
Business Week, "Howard Schultz on Reinventing Starbucks", Maria Bartiromo, April 9, 2008
Starbucks.com Press Releases "The Proof is in the Cup: Starbucks Launches Historic New Pike Place Roast", April 7, 2008
Escape from Corporate America. Top 7 Job Ideas for Hillary Clinton (Just In Case that Presidential Thing Doesn't Work Out, Pamela Skillings