Have you seen this? Starbucks is giving away a free coffee to everyone who pledges to serve 5 hours of community service!

It’s awesome that Starbucks is using their influence to help the nation, and market their company virally. Lucky for them, regular coffee is dirt cheap - I don’t even like it, but “I’M IN!”

I think what makes this campaign successful are some key factors:

1) Great, timely idea: people want to help others, or at least it’s cool to help others right now. Also, it’s the beginning of the year. We’re thinking about doing better this year, and pledging 5 hours is an easy way to do something good.

2) Good Giveaway: Free coffee from Starbucks!? I usually pay $4 for this, yeah, if it’s free, I’m interested. NOTE: it’s only a “tall” and it’s “brewed coffee” so it’s not what you probably drink, and it only costs them like 10 cents, but when you here “FREE STARBUCKS” you think big value.

3) Great Brand: Starbucks has one of the strongest brands out there. Starbucks is really cool. Because they’re so cool, people want to “hang-out” with their brand. (Just like with Mac). They have the influence to do something like this and get a lot of people to join.

4) Everyone’s Doing it: A “movement” or event helps generate more followers. By using language like “Are You In?” and saying “What if we all did?” then putting the counter at the top showing me that everyone else is doing it. (not literally, but to the mind it seems that way).

5) SIMPLE: simple idea, which is huge. Also the interface is VERY SIMPLE. You type in your info, and click, “I’M IN” (which is a fun phrase in itself). The page doesn’t even change. Simplicity is key, you must have a low barrier to entry.

6) Good Design: In keeping with the Starbucks brand, this site has good design. Good design is also helpful to get people interested and bought in - gives a professional, finished, quality look to the campaign.

Think about these things for your next big ask.
Way to go, Starbucks. Let’s go, Church!