Tags
advertisement, Butlers, coffee, Dublin, irish, marketing, online marketing, starbucks, tea
Marketing strategies and advertising campaigns are all around us, even if we may not always know it or even see it. But the one campaign that many unsuspecting coffee drinkers seem to not be aware of is the blogging of Starbucks cups because of misspellt names.
Whether or not this started out as simple mistakes or it is a purely customer driven campaign, it is sort of genius to utilize Instagram and Facebook pics and irate tweets to populate the internet with photos of the Starbucks logo. But it really bugs me and makes me want to boycott them more.
As someone who doesn’t like Starbucks – their coffee is just really expensive foamy milk and sugar – it is just another reason for me to not walk through their ever increasing number of doors in Dublin. I’d much rather spend my hard earned Euros in small, privately owned coffee shops and the wonderful Irish coffee chain Butlers (On a side note: Butlers allows you to select a praline with each cup of tea or coffee – genius and yummy marketing strategy).
And while I do understand the hoards of tourists looking for free WiFi when they travel, in Dublin Starbucks is far from the only solution. Most places offer up their broadband for free and the whole city has lots of hotspots anyway.
So if you happen to be visiting Dublin I’d recommend you join me in a Starbuck boycott and find all the wonderful and quirky little coffee shops dotted around the place. Leave your Euros with the locals and don’t put your hard earned cash into the pockets of huge conglomerates.

some milky tea off the beaten track
Oh yes! We are so spoiled for choice Starbucks doesn’t even make the shortlist.
I so agree
Starbucks seems to be getting less here in Germany, so maybe they’ll just disappear like all other trends 🙂
I think it’s because the Germans like their own cafes …
I couldn’t agree more
So agree with all of the above comments and especially your post, Missy J. Well done.
Thanks so much – yes they do annoy me – I think we now have 7 in the city center and it is killing the small coffee shops
Make a list of where the Irish coffee shops are for me, please? I agree about Starbucks’ foam and sugar. I make my own cafe con leches (lattes, kind of) at home or at the local Cuban coffee stands. We have two Starbucks here and, as you said, they seem to be filled with tourists! Locals want, and in my case, need the kick of the con leche!