Free Starbucks Iced Beverage Coupon
Circulating via email, a printable coupon for a free iced grande beverage at Starbucks. The company has canceled the promotion.
Description: Email flier
Circulating since: August 2006
Status: Outdated
Email example contributed by Charles T., Aug. 25, 2006:
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Subject: Have a Free Starbucks Drink!
Hi Everyone, Kimberly Beasley 
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Analysis: Oops! Starbucks issued a press release on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 saying that the above promotion, which was valid when first introduced one week earlier, has been canceled because it was "redistributed beyond the original intent and modified beyond Starbucks' control."
The flier was initally sent out to a limited number of employees in the southeastern United States, who, in turn, were encouraged to forward it to family and friends. Before long it was being published on blogs and "free stuff" Web sites across the Internet and brought in for redemption in Starbucks locations everywhere.
The promotion was apparently an experiment to see if business could be shifted from mornings to afternoons and evenings. I don't know how successful it was, but there were lessons learned, to be sure.
Update: Rival company Caribou Coffee has announced it will honor Starbucks' iced grande beverage coupons for one day only, September 8, 2006, at which time anyone presenting one of the coupons at a Caribou location will receive a free medium Cold Press iced coffee, iced Americano or iced tea.
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Sources and further reading:
Starbucks Coupon Gets Out of Hand
Seattle Times, 31 August 2006Starbucks Recalls Coupon
Orange County Register, 31 August 2006
Last updated: 08/31/06
