Starbucks has a wonderful promotional opportunity that it uses every day- its cups.

The ubiquitous coffee cup, that is our landfill archeological contribution to future generations, has become a mini-messaging medium for marketers. It’s a perfect touch point for advertisements: the consumer is at ease with a warm drink, indulging themselves before, during and after a busy day… their minds are open. This is the moment to deliver a slogan, quote or emotional trigger! It’s the moment I live for…

Supple minds are a marketer’s dream as they tend to be quite receptive to your messaging that should, if properly structured, touch on a consumer’s deepest desires. In a nice play on this, Starbucks does not overtly market themselves on their cups. Instead they deliver socially-aware quotations from known and unknown personages. It’s deceptive because it causes me (if not you) to look favorably on the brand.

They are communicating a provocative quote. I react to the quote, usually favorably, and fleetingly am reminded of Starbucks’ socially mission, rather than the business model. I then experience a feeling of satisfaction: the coffee feels good going down; the quote generates a moment of reflection; and the brand (Starbucks) is reinforced as one that I can associate with… everyone’s happy.

An acquaintance whom I greatly admire, Chip Giller, is the founder of Grist, an online environmental magazine. I met him through two good friends and was impressed by his charisma and soft-spoken delivery. I was happily surprised to find a quote of his used in the Starbucks campaign called, The Way I See It. Chip got the 289th quote! Considering that I haven’t even achieved the bragging rights of quote #8435, I’d say that’s worth a few pats on the back.

Chip’s words are a perfect conversation starter in large, mixed gatherings. By “mixed” I mean, Obama supporters versus Palin lovers, err, I mean, McCain supporters. Are there three camps now?

I digress… energy independence is NOT the exclusive rallying cry of one party. It is the “people’s” issue (or should be) and must be addressed in a progressive manner by both parties, regardless of which controls the executive branch this time around.

Here is the quote… and again, congratulations Chip!

So-called “global warming” is just a secret ploy by wacko tree-huggers to make America energy independent, clean our air and water, improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, kick-start 21st-century industries, and make our cities safer and more livable. Don’t let them get away with it!