UBCO Professor Says Starbucks Got Lucky With Red Cup Controversy

A marketing professor at UBC Okanagan says when Starbucks released its 2015 holiday cups; the discussion around them was worth more than a holiday advertising campaign ever could have been.

Assistant Professor Eric Li, who teaching marketing, says that that Starbucks got lucky with all the attention surrounding the blank red cups. When they were launched on November 1^st it didn’t take long for people to start debating the new look of them.

Four days after the release, former TV and radio evangelist Joshua Feuerstein took to Facebook to express his outrage that “Starbucks removed Christ from their cups.” Stating that Starbucks hated Jesus, the video went viral and amassed more than 16 million views.

Li says that the attention Feuerstein received is priceless.

“Starbucks knows the consumer has a short memory. In the past, people would talk about the red cups for a week and then move on,” says Li.

Jeffrey Fields, Starbucks VP of Design and Content, stated publicly the plain cup is a consumer-generated marketing strategy: the intent of the new design was to create a blank canvas on which people could create their own designs.

While the conversation took a dramatically different than expected, it’s most likely generated millions in sales due to the viral comments from Feuerstein.

“It all started with a cup. Now it’s a topic of conversation,” added Li.

Ellen DeGeneres and other giants in the entertainment world have spoken about the red Starbucks cups, generating millions of views on YouTube alone.

Li explains this is a marketing technique called “transmedia storytelling.” This marketing strategy tells a single story or experience across multiple platforms and formats. Without paying anyone, Starbucks dominated media outlets the week after the video was released including television, newspapers, radio, and social media.

“People are so used to advertising that we cannot store the information,” said Li. “Controversy draws people’s attention. It’s a different level of awareness.”

All of the controversy spells good news for Starbucks at the end of the day. As long as people continue to talk about the company that means that sales will continue to increase and the marketing will be done by the people, free of charge.