CHRISdotTODD

Starbucks has a new site for ideas and voting ala Digg -- My Starbucks Ideas . I'm not sure where this will go with Starbucks in the long-run, but its a great attempt at gathering direct customer feedback. I also like that Starbucks outsourced this through Salesforce.com instead of building themselves. I think it is still much too common for organizations to think that they can develop something better and cheaper than what they can buy or borrow. Starbucks needs to continue making good coffee and having great marketing; IT and web development does not need to be a core competency. Of course Mt. Dew has had a website for as long as I can remember, though I haven't spent much time checking it out. [I do recall many years ago as part of a going-away party for a colleague, I searched for Mt. Dew sites on the Internet, and found many, many of them.] Mt. Dew is in the middle of it's own contest to encourage customer interaction. DEWmocracy.com hosts this current contest, wh

Apple and Starbucks just started (October 5, 2007) a new service in participating Starbucks stores. Using your laptop, iPhone , or iPod touch , you can get free access to the iTunes site and review and buy up to the last 10 tunes played in the Starbucks store. When using your iPhone or iPod touch, you will also be able to get the song on your Mac or PC for no additional charge. I learned about this today when I went into Starbucks. As part of the promotion, you can get a free, new song every day in Starbucks through November 7th. The first artist was Bob Dylan and has include greats such as Gloria Estefan and Mavis Staples; upcoming releases include Herbie Hancock, Dave Matthews, and John Mayer. Personally, I think this is a great combination of two great products, coffee and music, brrought to us by folks who know how to do it so well, Starbucks and Apple. That'll be a triple-grande-latte for me.