Skip to main content

Venti(ng) Anger

America known for classical marketing techniques, has produced many global brands that people recognize by merely seeing their logos, or familiar colors or other brand attributes without actually having the company name being spelled.


Nike, Apple, Starbucks are exemplars of this phenomenon.  Speaking of the latte(r) the brand called Starbucks is now well known across the planet for purveying caffiene in variety of forms often using Itailan sounding names that people consume without thinking.  At least without pausing to consider what a Macchiato or a Cappuccino or a Grande or a Venti means.


Starbucks has long known that people psychology can be manipulated using all tools in its box that convey a sense of the exotic and distract the buyer from the price of an item.  Add to it a rewards program that was straightforward until recently and they got them hooked, and craving for a cup. 


Now there is a backlash from the loyals.  Apparently they are Venti(ng).  The program so easy to follow now based on earning a star for a purchase regardless of price provided a simple way to earn a freebie after 12 stars.  Now the earn will switch from a ticket to the value of the ticket.  As in more you spend closer you get to the reward.


Social media is agog with backlash and language to let the company know how it is unfair (for the cheap purchase qualifiers) and want the company to respond, calling tbeir strategy a fail.  To me the whole notion of using social seems pointless.


Basic laws of economics will let Starbucks know (who closely monitors all its take across every register in the world) if anything is a success or fail.  Why the hoopla?  I suspect the over - caffieneted crowds need something to blow a little steam?  If anything the noise will provide free publicity.  Like this blog.


Extra hot Venti latte anyone?



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...