What is holiday cheer? According to Starbucks, it's a random stranger holding the door open for you because you have a bunch of packages. It's taking your kids out because you know your partner needs a rest. Starbucks wanted to use cheer as the concept behind their 2006 holiday PR campaign, and the program developed needed to encourage customer participation at the individual level, utilize the traditional holiday microsite format, and garner momentum through word of mouth. The resulting strategy centered around the Cheer Pass -- a Starbucks branded card that instructed its recipient to do something nice for another person and then transfer the pass to that person. Starbucks and Edelman hoped that the Cheer Pass, which was based on the familiar "pay-it-forward" idea, would become a powerful social experiment that would give customers something to talk about over the holidays.
Through print advertising and a series of nationwide events, Starbucks distributed a half million passes in eight weeks, and each had a number that enabled its recipients to track its progress online. The corresponding website, Cheerpass.com, explored the idea of cheer, allowed people to share their stories, and encouraged visitors to download their own cheer passes, send a pass to a friend, or keep tabs on their existing pass's movements to see how long each "chain of cheer" could be sustained.
More than 850 stories of spreading holiday cheer came in from around the nation, and more than 40,000 unique visitors were inspired by CheerPass.com. Helping to spread spirit of the Cheer Pass even further was media coverage in local and national outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, Advertising Age, and OK! Magazine. Pass #357020 from Washington, D.C. said, "I love this idea Starbucks came up with. I can't wait to see where my cheer card goes!"
Credit Information
--------------------------------------
Client: Starbucks
Agency: Edelman
Budget: Undisclosed
Date of Campaign: Late 2006
Contact Name: Alexandra Levit
--------------------------------------
