The Starbucks pledge: to increase store traffic

Talk about an integrated campaign — This week, I noticed a bunch of my Facebook friends signing on for Starbucks’ new push to get people to commit to volunteer for five hours in return for a free cup of Starbucks coffee. The campaign, clearly meant to also boost store traffic, has now hit the big time, with a boost by Oprah who tied it in to Barack Obama’s recent call for a “new era of responsibility. The coffee company has a microsite, at pledge5starbucks.com, an “I’m in” TV spot, and online ads. This is clearly a more successful effort than Starbucks’ failed Election Day giveaway, where when it was found it might violate election laws to give out coffee in exchange for votes, the caffeine gurus had to give away coffee to anyone that asked.