Starbucks Magical Unicorn Frappuccino Campaign

I am in day 2 of withdrawal since the end of the Unicorn Frappuccino campaign at Starbucks. This is one of the best thought out marketing campaigns I have seen in a while. Not only was the beverage itself vibrant and fun, but the social media surrounding the drink was just as vivacious. Katy Perry tweeted herself taking a sip of the beverage, before spitting it out and calling it awful. People all over the world were using #unicornfrappuccino and #unicornstarbucks to share their own opinions on whether the Frappuccino actually tasted good. The morning that the campaign started my social media was flooded with ads announcing that the Unicorn Frappuccino was here!

Why was their marketing campaign so successful? Starbucks illustrated that people want what is trendy, as well as what they can only have for a limited time. By making the beverage available for a short period of time, people were flocking to Starbucks. A fear of Starbucks running out, of them not getting there before the date the beverage wasn't available, and the fear of merely not fitting in with the trend, sent people into a frenzy.

Starbucks also paired themselves with snap chat, creating an image of an individual with a unicorn horn, a Unicorn Frappuccino placed in front of them, and the Starbucks logo in the corner. I received a tonne of snap chats that day, with friends and family excited to show themselves as happy and vivacious unicorns.

By the time I took my daughters to school the morning the campaign launched, the radio hosts on the morning show that I listen to had voted for one of them to leave the show and go get Unicorn Frappuccino's for all of them. They used Facebook Live for the whole event, showing the broadcaster in line, the making of the beverage, as well as them trying it. This is brilliant for Starbucks as this is merely one of many radio stations giving them FREE advertising on their social media pages, solely based on how well the trend was launched.

It's easy to think that they achieved this success solely because they are Starbucks and have the following that they have. That isn't true! Maybe your product, service or store will only go viral within your geographical area, but there is no time where free marketing is bad marketing! Get CREATIVE! Think outside the BOX! Or hire Cinis Marketing, and we can do it for you!