Starbuck’s Location-Based Network
On Wednesday, Starbucks rolled out their own digital network to over 6,800 stores across the U.S, evolving how we can sit and enjoy the paper and a cup of joe for the third time in their history.
At first they just offered you a place to buy your paper and read it. Then they offered free wi-fi so you could read your paper online. But now they have launched a network on their wi-fi - meaning that the first thing you see when you access that network is their new branded page: starbucks.yahoo.com (but don’t try to go there if you’re not in the store - you’ll get an ‘error’: “So drop by your local store and log on for interesting and important content you can’t find anywhere else. Absolutely free!”)
The content on the network is basically news/weather/entertainment, music and restaurant reviews - keeping everything nicely within brand territory. And tipping their hat to the increasing pervasiveness of mobile computing, their VP of Digital Ventures, Adam Brotman, stated that whereas some former digital in-store initiatives focused on getting the right screen in the store for the customer to interact with, they see that now the user is “walking in with their own screen” (although some people don’t think they are being as considerate as they appear).
Only a few days into the experiment, I can predict that the network has plenty of advantages for them -
Content - It’s appropriate for the audience (i.e., what they want) and premium-feeling due to how exclusive it feels - even if it’s really not exclusive content (yet - keep an eye on what they do with Apple), but in terms of access it hits the mark.
Brand fit - The portal aligns nicely with their mission to be a destination, an oasis amidst our crazy lives.
Context - They continue to focus on both motivations for visits to their store, and optimizing the in-store experience for people - their biggest competitive advantage, in my opinion.
Plus, if you keep up on the latest in Digital Marketing you know that Location-Based Services are all the rage, and for most marketers the challenge is getting on the right platform, with good content that users will want. Well - this move by Starbucks puts them in the enviable position of basically owning the channel, rather than worrying about purchasing media on one. So they get to offer consumers the network and its content at the right time, right place and for all the right reasons. Very sustainable and smart.
And the above benefits should encourage us to take away a few questions about your brand as well:
1. Which brand experiences should you be evolving next? Just because you’ve already made an improvement in one area doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity to take it to the next level.
2. Shouldn’t all your brand services and engagements let users BYOS (Bring Their Own Screens) as their motto?
3. How and why would you create a new channel that you own, rather than rent on?
4. Why do you suddenly want a cup of coffee?
Via PaidContent (<—- a really excellent article, by the way)
Update: a good video is posted here about the network.
