Though deals such as a half-off gift card are nothing new, Starbucks's use of LivingSocial is a great illustration of why the brand continues to be a leader in social media as well as the larger digital landscape. By leveraging LivingSocial (as opposed to Groupon) for this marketing deal, Starbucks masterfully executed the first two stages of John Caples' seven stage process. Not only did the deal grab and hold customers' attention, but there was a ripple effect as news of the discount spread through users' social networks. The brand was also able to easily work through the remaining five stages in Caples's process by setting the price point to create desire, making the deal believable and easy to purchase by using LivingSocial, and of course, creating a sense of urgency by making it available for a limited time.
Starbucks certainly didn't need to offer the deal to get people in its doors, but by doing so, it showed why it's a digital leader. It presented its customers with a value proposition too good to ignore and made it easily shareable by choosing the right partner in LivingSocial. As of this post, the Starbucks Facebook page had received a combined 17,890 likes and 763 comments on its September 4th and 5th posts regarding the offer as well as 3,698 shares. Of course, these numbers don't take into account customers who posted content to their Facebook pages ... or tweets ... or other channels, so I'm sure the final numbers are staggering.
Big, established brands would be wise to follow Starbucks lead (the effectiveness of Groupon and LivingSocial for small businesses is up for debate). As this case study goes to show, even something as basic as a coupon can travel a long way in the digital world.
