26
May
2009
Last week Starbucks launched a new social media campaign, encouraging their fans to find and take pictures of Starbucks posters across six major cities, then be the first to upload the pictures using Twitter. The same day Starbucks launched its brilliant campaign, filmmaker Robert Greenwald debuted a film on YouTube devoted to anti-Starbucks material, specifically regarding labor issues.
After reading the Starbucks Twitter campaign launch, Greenwald decided to create his own campaign. He encouraged his blog readers and Twitter followers to take pictures of themselves in front of Starbucks’ locations holding anti-labor practice signs. After taking the pictures, they were to upload the pics onto Twitter, also utilizing the same hashtags [#top3percent and #starbucks] Starbucks requested in their followers to use.
The interesting part of this story is the true power of Twitter; and simply, how uncontrollable it is. A large corporation, Starbucks, saw a great opportunity to utilize mainstream marketing [Twitter]. The plan backfired due to the efforts of Robert Greenwald using the same mainstream marketing tool [Twitter] against them.
Word spreads fast on Twitter, making it a powerful viral marketing tool. Essentially, it is a tool that can pump up a company, or be the very thing that breaks it to pieces.
Note to self: Use Twitter wisely, and be ready for the unknown.
Photo credit: Union Observer
top
