Thursday 21 June 2007

Dumbest moments in business

You would actually think that all strategic moves in a global firm are carefully and well considered, that marketing campaigns are set up and implemented by clever people, that investor relations are led by qualified and competent people. Well, Business 2.0 magazine published an article about the 101 dumbest moments in business in the year 2006, which I find is very entertaining and refreshing. One of the grand-prize winners in the category marketing is Starbucks... here's the summary:
In August 2006, Starbucks directs baristas in the southeastern United States to e-mail a coupon for a free iced coffee to friends and family members. But e-mail knows no geographic boundaries and, worse, can be printed repeatedly. After the e-mail spreads to every corner of the country and is reproduced en masse, Starbucks yanks the offer, leading a disgruntled customer to file a $114 million class-action lawsuit...
That really was very dumb. Well, this won't stop me from drinking my coffee at Starbucks.. I guess this will even make me smile a bit each time I'm there ;)
Have a happy day, Dania

3 comments:

Wayne Smallman said...

I'm not sure if the Starbucks example is dumb.

Things like that are sometimes oversights, which happen to everyone.

Here's where a marketing plan is put into effect before the mechanics and the logistics are checked and validated by the IT people.

It's still pretty bad, but I'm sure there's been worse...

BillyWarhol said...

i used to love Biz 2.0 Mag + Red Herring Mag + all those DotCom Boom reads* at the Peak the Mags were HUGE!! in fact some had to go to publishing Twice a Month!! Back in the good ol' glory daze of Full Page ads*

;))

altho it's a little more muted this time around it would still be Fun to Ride the Web2.0 Wave*

Anonymous said...

Excellent example. Not as dumb as that judge in Washington DC, tho.