McDonald’s Attacks Starbucks with Free Coffee
April 14, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) is attacking Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) for a larger piece of coffee drinkers’ wallets right in the premium coffee brand’s backyard – Seattle, Washington. McDonald’s offered Free Latte Friday in Seattle in yet another attempt to promote its coffee as competitive with Starbucks but “unsnobby”.
McDonald’s even launched a website to poke fun at Starbucks as an elitist brand at UnsnobbyCoffee.com. It’s a clever campaign that seems to be working to some degree. In fact, it’s generating such a buzz that Good Morning America even did a special report about the battle of the coffee brands. Check it out below.
Starbucks has been countering the McDonald’s coffee offensive by closing their stores to retrain baristas, hopping onboard the Got Milk campaign and offering $1 short cups and free refills. Are Starbucks’ efforts working? What do you think?
Tags: Starbucks, McDonald’s, McDonalds coffee, McCafe, unsnobbycoffee.com, Unsnobby coffee, free McDonald’s coffee, brand promotion
First off, we should be asking “are McDonald’s efforts working?”, they’re the underdog, and it’s their uphill climb to de-throne Starbucks.
Whether Starbucks is pretentious or not is up for some debate. I would say expensive isn’t the same as pretentious, but it’s a fine line. However, McDondald’s even mentioning “class” is asking for trouble. Considering how customers look for that aspirational quality in every brand (why do you think they wear fake Burberry caps and keep the bags from Bloomingdales?), Starbucks may be perfectly fine taking the “high road.”
The battle here is not over the price, or even quality, of a latte, it’s about the experience. Do you really want to pop into McDonald’s 5-7 times per week? In the middle of a stressful workday? With your kids? I still say Starbucks has em beat on this front, at least in major cities.
btw, tell me this doesn’t sounds seriously political? Next thing we’re likely to hear is McDonald’s claiming “you’re out of touch with the American coffee drinker”
Doh, now that I watched that video I want a latte. To the kitchen!
By the way, where is Dunkin’ Donuts in the melee? They’ve still got my loyalty, but the McDonald’s coffee isn’t bad, while I’ve always found Starbucks to be rather strong/bitter. I’m probably not the target market for the latte fight, but do find all the posturing worth paying attention to.
To whom it may concern:
What is the brand name of regular and decaf coffee that McDonald’s serve? I cannot buy a packet of it from the store and I would like the name and possibly a place where I can purchase the coffee.
Thank you kindly.
Sincerely,
Larry Porter