Free Coffee? So what!!

The latest buzz going on from a marketing perspective is the McDonald's free coffee giveaway.

While it's getting a lot of publicity, and McDonald's is a lucrative business that can afford to run this promotion, it's not even the best coffee promotion of 2009!!

From February to March, Tim Horton's ran it's yearly "Rrrrroll up the rim" contest. As 95% of the general public know by now, you're better off buying lottery tickets than seeing if you've won so much as a cookie!

For a short while, Country Style Donuts tried to capitalize by offering a free cup of coffee to anyone who brought in a "Please Play Again" cup from Tim Horton's. GENIUS!!!

It's quite unfortunate that this campaign was not as highly advertised as it was. This was a wonderful plan to try and steal some Tim Horton's customers.

When you think of coffee shop, these brands come to mind: Tim Horton's, Second Cup & Starbucks. Country Style may have the best coffee in the country, but no one would know since the public already has 3 major outlets to choose from. The marketing gurus at Country Style broke through the clutter in order to get people to just sample their coffee.

The flip side of this campaign was that it was executed poorly. Along with minimal advertising of the promotion, the customer service I received was unsatisfactory. The staff seemed unhappy to be giving away free coffee, and my cup was nothing to brag about.

What's the moral of the story? Country Style, you've got the right idea.....just make sure that everyone knows, the public and your own staff. You've created a wonderful opportunity to break into the top 3.......which is something that McDonald's is also trying to do!