Buy Your Friend a Starbucks on Facebook

Starbucks has done a lot of things right in the past couple years. I credit Howard Schultz for most of this shift, as they went from a possible headliner in Jim Collins book 'How the Mighty Fall', to a powerhouse brand (again) since he took back the CEO position in January of 2008. In that time, I have read and written countless cases on what Starbucks has done as leaders in not just Quick Service Retail, but as a global brand and company. 

One of the cases I've talked about the most has been mystarbucksidea.com. This site gives customers and brand advocates a forum to share how they think Starbucks could be an better experience and company. Other site members vote on their favs and then...Starbucks will execute them. Awesome use of transparency, and consumer to brand integration. The latest idea to emerge from mystarbucksidea.com is the new 'Give a Gift' feature on the Starbucks Card Facebook application that lets users in the U.S. and Canada load between $5 and $500 to a friend's registered Starbucks Card.



“It’s great to bring another customer-inspired idea to life that enhances the customer experience in our coffee houses and within our digital communities. The new ‘Give a Gift’ feature on the Starbucks Card App provides a quick, fun gifting solution for our customers who want to surprise a friend on any occasion,” says Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’s vice president for brand, content and online.

Starbucks has strong FB presence with more than 15 million fans, or 'likes'. Last time I checked, that was the most for any brand on Facebook. ~ p

(Source: mashable.com)