Nowadays Iphone app are becoming more often part of mobile marketing strategies used by companies to reinforce their campaigns' messaging.
After over 16 years of dominance on the caffeine market, Starbucks encountered a number of difficulties this year: loss of control over brand identity, quality control issues a.o., dropping 5 places on Interbrands' Best Global Brands 2009 report. Also, for the fist time the company was forced to shutter over 600 stores in the US.
This week the retailer has announced a new mobile marketing strategy, as part of its repositioning program, aiming to reinforce its brand experience: 2 new iPhone app were launched - My Starbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile App:
The 1st app is a pretty standard application based mainly on GPS functions helping to locate the closest store, check menu items, hours and amenities. The main innovative solution which sets Starbucks apart from US retailers is the Starbucks Card Mobile App which allows barcode payments using iPhones.
I hear more often these days that in customer-driven environment "the currency is innovation" and mobile marketing as a 3-rd screen platform (among TV, online and mobile) offers a vast array of opportunities for marketers.
For Starbucks this innovation is clearly a step forward in the field of mobile payments and only its popularity and usage will show if this could be a practice for other businesses to follow and for consumers to adopt.
Sources used:
1. BrandChannel: http://ow.ly/riMu
2. Interbrand Best Global Brands Report: http://ow.ly/riRl
3. Bnet UK: http://ow.ly/riNi
4. Starbucks: http://ow.ly/riNK
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