jonwashburn: How fast can a coffee virus spread?

Who would have thought that giving a digital coupon redeemable for a free beverage to a "limited group of employees" could become a national caffeinated beverage philanthropic movement in less than one week?

Starbuck's recent goodwill gesture gone bad demonstrates the power and potential of viral growth.  I find it interesting that this viral based promotional campaign could be considered a success only if the reaches of the campaign didn't extend too far beyond the Southern States.  It seems inexcusable  for the Starbucks marketing team not be prepared for an idea or message to spread quickly in our connected world. To be in a position where Starbucks chooses to cancel the coupon ahead of schedule is an extreme tactical error. Rescinding the coupon offer at this time is a mistake. The loss of public goodwill from this coupon recall, the night before the last day of the promotion, will be far greater than the potential loss from honoring the commitments of the coupon. 

In 2001 Taco Bell promised every American citizen a free taco if the space station Mir hit a floating target in the middle of the ocean.  Taco Bell estimated that if the target was hit, it would cost Taco Bell approximately $10,000,000 to fulfill this promise.  They didn't stand much to lose however, as the odds of the target being hit were less than .0001% and they supposedly took out an insurance policy.  They benefited generously in public awareness and goodwill.  Their beefed up web servers were not capable of handling the traffic generated by this campaign.

In contrast it seems reasonable to assume that many prior loyal Starbucks patrons will be echoing Max's comments that "Starbucks just lost too many points in my eyes." after they make a trip to their local barista today with hopes of receiving their special gift from Starbucks, only to be told that Starbucks is no longer honoring the coupon.  This scenario will seem to many people very much like a bait and switch gimmick.  

It looks like Starbucks put themselves in a position of little upside potential with lots of downside risk. They were successful in creating a very infectious ideavirus, but failed in conceptual planning that is needed to make the campaign a success.      

Interesting and Related Links:

Viral Marketing Wikipedia 

Possibly the fastest spreading viral video - Subservient Chicken 

Matt's favorite viral of all time: Snakes on a Place phone call (Read Seth Godin's recent take on the effectiveness of this campaign) 

P.S. I wish I could see a graph that displayed the redemtion rate of the coupon since it was first released on August 23.  I bet todays redemption rate would have been (possibly will be) higher than all of the other days of the campaign combined.