Starbucks and Apple, Sittin' in a Tree

So I just learned (via a text message to my phone), that iphone users can get access to free wi-fi at Starbucks. This makes two of my favorite pastimes, drinking coffee and surfing the web, all that much more enjoyable. I've been reading about this for almost a year now, and I'm not sure why it took so long to put into effect.

Get'em When They're Young

Marketers and advertisers like to imprint brands on people at an early age. Children's mind are impressionable, and if you get them early you potentionally have a customer for life. If that's the case then Chipotle and Starbucks can chalk up a two year old girl as a loyal customer. We were driving down Lake street last night and as we passed Chipotle Julia said "Chicken!!!" One minute later we passed Starbucks and Julia exclaimed "Coffee!!!" Now we've been to that Chipotle regularly so maybe she recognized the location, but she's only been to that Starbucks once before. Plus she's recognized other Starbucks locations that she's never been inside. I guess this is why companies prize their logos.

Starbucks Again

Now that its finally warm, I've found myself splurging on coffee frappucinos at Starbucks. Its getting harder to avoid, we've now got 6 Starbucks within 2 miles of our house, three of which opened in the past year. I've gotten a Starbucks VISA card which works kinda like airline credit cards. For every 100 dollars we spend, we get one Starbucks dollar. Given how much we put on our card every month, it generally means I don't ever have to pay cash for my caffeine fix. Unfortunately, Kelly has recently caught on and started cashing in the Starbucks dollars for herself. (She likes the Horizon brand organic milk). We may have to start buying more stuff to accommodate our Starbucks cravings :)