notes and views on crm, social media, and the human side of information technology

Starbucks and its idea pond

Starbucks has gone the Dell route - and is now soliciting ideas from the latte-drinking crowd.

Says Ben McConnell:

If Starbucks really follows through with its promise, this suggestion box-on-steroids idea is meritocracy via social network. The congregation is smarter than the preacher, so this could develop into a valuable, and tangible, asset for Starbucks

Cool. I was initially doubtful - Starbucks being stretched all over the place just like McDonalds and having as much uniqueness to it, how many enthusiasts it still has? - but the authenticity of posted ideas have converted me. Let’s wait for some action to follow, some ideas to materialize, before making any further judgements.

Question to ponder: is it time for McDonald’s to launch its own BurgerStorm?

PS And it runs on Force.com, which is a major win for Salesforce and its platform-as-a-service world domination plans: a global brand gone SaaS-y.

PS2 via Adriana -  Jeff Jarvis comments on some of the ideas in the pond and poses a provocative question: “Why does listening to your customers sound like a web 2.0 idea? It should be a business 1.0 necessity.”

Maybe. But it would be fair to say it takes a giant leap of faith to move from the producer-knows-best mentality to that of “come on board and tell us what we can do better”. And yes, everybody should be doing that by now. In an ideal world.

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March 20, 2008 | Filed Under CRM 

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