Starbucks has tapped an eclectic group of personalities to show what their favourite brews reveal about them in an activation and online campaign to boost demand for its customised drinks. As well as ESPN newscaster Jamie Yeo and radio DJ Joe Augustin, the coffee giant has recruited Yahoo sales director Tom Sipple and SPH new media manager Raymond Teoh to sit through a ‘Customology 101’ session and customise their ideal drinks. The top coffee choices, and personality assessments

are featured in a microsite developed by local shop Philip Tang & Sons. The site also features an online version of Customology 101 and an exhaustive guide to ‘87,000 ways to have your coffee’.

“We’re hoping to encourage people to find their own unique drink,” said Belinda Wong, MD, Starbucks Singapore. “In Singapore, unlike overseas, many customers don’t know about customisation and, in fact, many people don’t even believe we have 87,000 different options.”

The activation portion of the campaign, developed in-house and coordinated by August PR, includes a month of weekly ‘happy hours’ when customers can add a modifier — such as an expresso shot or flavoured syrup — for free.
“Our marketing strategy is to use our store as the major media vehicle. Hence, education and marketing is mostly held inside the stores,” Wong added.

(Source: Media)