Starbucks has finally introduced My Starbucks Rewards in the UK and Ireland after launching it in the USA and Canada. Now, British consumers can get rewards by spending money loaded on their registered Starbucks cards, no matter what and when they buy in the chain’s stores. The new service kicked off yesterday, January 5, providing more Starbucks coffee drinkers with an opportunity to receive benefits by collecting stars with purchases they make using their Starbucks Cards.
Author: Anna Rudenko
Honda taking its ‘personalization’ theme used in the ‘To Each Their Own’ US marketing push even further by launching a new campaign entitled Your Honda, Your Way in the UK, providing consumers with an opportunity to choose a set of right Honda offers such as extended guarantee or an insurance contribution to name a few. To support the initiative, the brand has teamed up with Swizzels Matlow, the makers of Love Hearts, and released a poster that is playing up the retro vibe and informs about the offers in a sweet way. The heart cake images, which can revoke warm and positive emotions in just every person, will get featured in all Honda Marketing activities in the first quarter of 2012.
The ABSOLUT Vodka portfolio has been extended with a new flavoured variety, ABSOLUT Gräpevine, which comes as another taste experiment of the brand and offers yet more opportunities to bartenders who use the brand’s infused vodkas to create their diverse cocktails. The new offering, which combines the original and distinct taste of white grape and papaya, balanced with the sweet notes of dragon fruit, follows a new city-inspired ABSOLUT Vodka edition, the one dedicated to Miami. Both new offerings were launched in bars, nightclubs and retail across the USA on January 1.
Today, shoppers want sellers to be extremely inventive offering them the new products and services, and sellers really have a lot of resources to satisfy this quench for sophisticated approaches. Now, when digital is on the rise, brands often choose virtual space to get engaged with their consumers through various hubs and applications, primarily Facebook, iPhone or iPad ones. Zappos also followed the trend—the online show and apparel retailer, has released an iPad app entitled ‘Zappos Now’ (or ZN for short), in which an online store got merged with a digital fashion magazine.
The next year will be the last one for D&G, the line by the fashion giant Dolce & Gabbana as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana announced they are going to fold the D&G line to focus on the top brand offer. “For the upcoming seasons, D&G will become part of Dolce & Gabbana, giving even more strength and energy to our collections. To us, it’s like going back to when we began our adventure: full of ideas,” they commented in an emailed statement as Reuters reported back in September. Now, the brand is calling its fans to help create the farewell video to the youthful line, which was first launched almost 20 years ago and now is coming to an end.
Starbucks, which this year turned 40, marked the anniversary by updating both its logo (remember, the siren has been living without a circle around her for almost a year) and revamping the packaging. In October, the coffee giant optimized its range by dividing it into categories by roast to help consumers choose the right one—Blonde, Medium or Dark—quickly.
Brands are trying to make use of the new feature, Facebook’s Timeline, which has been rolling out globally starting last week, and incorporate it into their communication with fans. Now, Facebook Timeline is not open for brands, so they have to be inventive enough in case they want to use this feature for strengthening their connections with fans online. “We are currently focused on Timeline for individuals and will consider how to make consistent experiences for Pages,” commented a Facebook representative to Mashable, “but we have nothing to announce at this time.”
But Mountain Dew has find a way out—it is encouraging its consumers to download the free, customizable images (851 x 315 pixels) in the Mountain Dew style for their Timeline profiles. Now, users can add the skin images to their profile and so get the brand ‘embedded’ into their lives.
Earlier this year, Honda Civic proved that it’s good for everyone, even the most weird creatures and personalities (including zombies and woodsmen) as part of the ‘To Each Their Own’ campaign. Now, the auto brand is targeting digital savvy consumers with the interactive ‘Off the Grid’ film which takes viewers into a 360 degree photographed environment and offers them to explore the virtual space following the Google Street View-like red line (which works almost like a white rabbit).
ABSOLUT Vodka’s advertising usually is soaked in colour and vivid tones, but not this time. The iconic vodka brand this year has launched the ABSOLUT Blank campaign, which included a plethora of art pieces and offered consumers an opportunity to create their own masterpieces, and now it is presenting a unique poster, which is made of shades and light—nothing else.