The Starbucks Shopper Experience
I was so psyched when I saw this post on Swissmiss. Finally somebody took the time to point out the obvious obfuscation and mind-bogglingly inane product naming convention at Starbuck. I am sure people who ever ordered at Starbucks have found it to be a suboptimal transaction experience, too.
About The Author
Alexander Wipf
Head of Strategy at Leo Burnett Frankfurt
Other posts byAlexander Wipf
Author's web sitehttp://culturalfuel.com
Ha! Thanks for spotlighting this Alex. Even after all these years, I can never remember what Starbucks calls the different sizes and stand at the counter and point to the size cup I want or something equally lame. I’m sure they thought it would sound sort of Italian and sort of like a better deal (”I ordered a small and got a tall”) but you are spot on in your analysis.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:30 pmI don’t agree! I think the language is necessary and is part of what sets it apart as a special experience.
They ensure that the environment is different than other coffee shops (or used to anyway). And then adding the different language adds another level of distance from the average cup of joe.
It sets apart the community of ‘insiders’ that know the lingo, and it, along with their packaging and ambiance, help justify in the consumer’s mind the quite frankly amazing price points they command.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:48 amI totaly agree with Alan and all this “insiders” language sounds strange as when you want a cup of coffee you want it in the size you want and it makes everyone’s life easier when you call the size how it’s really called in the world.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:00 amAlex, I love the clip. But where please is the social bookmarking package for this site. Gimme sharing options to put it on my blog, friendfeed, myspace…whatever. Gimme buttons on culturalfuel!
November 29th, 2008 at 1:31 pmI guess you don’t know about the “short” coffee, then. That’s what I always order at Starbuck’s. It’s not on the menu, but it’s a size smaller than the tall. Hence, tall kinda makes sense in that instance. You get a short, then a tall, then grande, then venti. Although, the “grande” really confuses anyone who speaks Spanish ’cause they automatically think “large” when they hear that! Although, now that I think about it, having cup sizes in two different languages really doesn’t make sense. And don’t even get me started on the “caramel macchiato!”
Love the video you put together — very funny. Nicely done!
December 16th, 2008 at 2:24 am