Chain isn’t just about coffee.
It’s not exactly ‘chick lit’ or a fun read.
‘A Long Way Gone’ is a real-life story about a child soldier in war-torn Sierra Leone and some of the terrible things he is forced to do before he finds a way out.
Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz read the book, and he thinks you should too. That’s why it has popped up in front of cash registers at thousands of Starbucks coffeehouses around the country.
The book, by first-time author Ishmael Beah, has sold more than 70,000 copies at the chain since mid-February, which puts it in the literary big leagues.
Apparently, it’s not that big a stretch to sell a $4 caramel macchiato alongside the latest best-seller.
If you are one of those people who hate Starbucks for its cookie-cutter stores and ubiquity, you may find that a scary thought. It may even strike you as a little sad. Are we a nation of people with so little personal taste and intellectual curiosity that we rely on the corner coffee shop to select our next novel?
The truth is that Starbucks isn’t just about coffee anymore. Not without a degree of risk, the chain has morphed into something bigger, something that marketing and advertising executives frequently talk about but rarely achieve: Starbucks is a lifestyle brand. For millions of consumers, Starbucks has become an arbiter of hip, urban taste. More.
No comments yet.