The Results are in and a Lucky City Celebrates with a Pumpkin Spice Latte
I am one of those people who generally doesn’t drink coffee. I have somehow managed to get through years and years of school without much need for it. There is, however, one exception to this statement: I will run, push people out of the way (not actually, but I’ve considered it), and wait in the insanely long lines when the holiday drinks arrive at Starbucks. There are apparently many who feel the same need to indulge as fall sets in and Starbucks has recognized this and created a challenge out of it.
The “Pumpkin Spice Latte Challenge,” which started on August 21st and ended August 23rd, let fans in the U.S. and Canada compete to make their city the first to get the latte. Points could be earned in three ways: sharing on Facebook and Twitter, daily challenges like word searches, and creative challenges such as poetry about pumpkins. And for one city in the U.S. and one in Canada, collecting the most points means sipping this pumpkin flavored drink earlier than everyone else.
The points have been tallied and Leavenworth, WA is the U.S. city most dedicated to this delicious drink, earning a total of 388,180 points. Starbucks clearly used game-like incentives and rewards to increase traffic in stores by asking each city to work together towards one common goal: collect the most points. And beyond the city vs. city aspect, there is also what I like to call the “advanced boarding” concept. The winners of this competition are like those people who board a plane before the rest of us: they have it first, the do it comfortably, and it is exclusive.
There is no doubt in my mind that these zealous latte drinkers will enjoy the Pumpkin Spice Latte’s early arrival and some just may flaunt their prize to those of us anxiously anticipating its arrival to our city.
Starbucks has really hit the sweet spot (pun not intended, but welcome) when it comes to creating alluring (tasty!) holiday drinks that people anxiously await. I’m waiting for an official “Starbucks Holiday Cup” day to be declared in this country! But I’m also really impressed by their continued efforts to really push the customer interaction levels, whether it be through smartphone apps or, now, gamification. Advanced Boarding for sure…perhaps we’ll see the town dedicate a whole hashtag movement to their gloating!
This is a beautiful application of gamification principles by Starbucks. Hope to see more of such initiatives, since it has unlimited potential to engage your customer base (existing and potential).
Imagine if you were to use the concept of gamification, for products and services geared towards a rural customer base (in locales like Africa esp.). C. K. Prahalad did mention that the next demographics that businesses need to look at is the rural and semi-urban space.