You may remember a few months ago that I wrote an entry on an emergency stash of Starbucks VIA which I acquired through ebay (since it was only selling in select cities at the time).Well, this last Tuesday, VIA launched nationally and is now available for purchase in all (domestic) Starbucks stores. So far, depending on who you're reading online, the reception seems to have been only modestly warm. It doesn't seem like VIA has (yet) caught fire as a huge and revolutionary new product.
I must say, however, that for an instant coffee... VIA is pretty darn good. Right now, our kitchen has a few packs of VIA and a few packs of Nescafe. And I definitely prefer the VIA. But, whether Starbucks will really be able to break into the instant coffee market - especially overseas, where instant coffee is pretty prevalent - is another question.
A few days before the VIA product launch, I found a message in my flickr inbox, because of the picture (shown above) that I shot of my obtained-from-ebay VIA stash. The message was from Starbucks, from a member of their product launch marketing team:
Just to say ‘thanks’ for taking the time to post something about [VIA] on the web, I would like to offer you a free 3-month subscription of Starbucks VIA™ delivered through the StarbucksStore.com!
NICE. That's a 12-pack of VIA delivered to your door around the beginning of each month. Hooray! Thank you, Starbucks, for your generosity, especially towards your loyal customers.
The message continued...
Second, I would love to include your content on our new Starbucks VIA™ website when it goes live on September 29th. We would be sure to attribute it to you and link back to it in its original setting so that it will bring even more attention to it!
This meant that I would have to agree to their use of my image on their website, agree to certain terms and conditions, and give up rights to royalites, etc. So, I went ahead and said OK. I don't make any money on my pictures; I'm happy just to get the free VIA packs; and I'd be happy to see my picture used on the VIA website.
So far though, I have not yet seen my picture anywhere on the VIA website. It turns out there is a whole section of the site dedicated to community-generated content - upload your photos, videos, comments about VIA, etc. I notice that Starbucks has uploaded some other users' flickr photos there, but my photo... hasn't (yet) made the cut. Oh well. Maybe it will show up somewhere else? Anyways, I check every few days to see if maybe my picture is somewhere on the site. Will let you know (and post a link) if I find it anywhere.
4 comments:
Is Starbucks delivering your coffee to where you are now? That will be just grrreat, isn't it?
Haha... actually, Mom... they're delivering it... to you. :)
Hey Alvin. We saw it in stores this week. They are selling them in boxes of 3. $2.95 for 3. How much was it when you got it on ebay? Just curious. I guess $2.95 for 3 is still cheaper than a tall regular drip.
~c
Yeah, I think it's going for about $1/cup. When I got it on ebay, I got about 70 packs... for around $45. Oh yes, and they threw in a bottle of the caramel syrup flavoring. So, there was a discount... but I had to buy in bulk. :)
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