

Starbucks and Angry Birds - A Match Made in Confusion - vantech
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/starbucks-and-angry-birds-a-match-made-in-confusion-2011-09-21

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politician
Theory: Starbucks has partnered with Angry Birds to educate the public about
NFC payments. Angry Birds: Magic is a new NFC toy which is about to be
released. It makes sense for both companies that this toy is pitched at the
checkout counter where a small placard invites all coffee drinkers to try a
Starbucks branded NFC keyfob/giftcard combo.

Prediction: This campaign works better than Via. They struggle to give that
stuff away at the store I...attend.

~~~
cowpewter
One the perks of being a regular at my usual Starbucks is that the barristas
will quite frequently comp your drink if you buy a 3-pack of Via. With the Via
being about 19 cents cheaper than my usual drink, it's a win-win for my
wallet, and the barristas' sales quotas. Not sure how Starbucks itself makes
out in that deal though.

My desk drawer at work is full of Via packs.

~~~
pasbesoin
I was sucked into one of in-store customer taste comparisons, when Via was
launching. The Via was better than the brewed coffee -- no surprise to me;
I've consistently found Starbucks in-store brewed coffee to be lousy. (I can
do a lot better at home, with the same beans.)

I never purchase Via, and neither do many others, I suspect, because at $1 or
more per 8 oz cup, it just seems ridiculously expensive for instant coffee.
(Even if it's comparable to the in-store price for a brewed cup -- and, as I
mentioned, tastes better. If customers ever learn the latter.)

I've read that they use a centrifuge to "dry" it, and so I don't know what the
production costs are. But when I read that they are grinding beans very
finely, rather than concocting an extract, and when I look at the physical
quantity they are selling you, I can't help imagining that the margin on Via
(minus marketing and all that crap) is exhorbitant.

Perhaps one problem is that if they dropped the Via prices, they'd undercut
their in-store sales.

Anyway, Via's a decent product, but it seems to have limited opportunity under
its current marketing.

