I've just come across this great piece of news in the Mobile Marketer about the most recent mobile marketing campaign from Starbucks! Needless to say how important sms marketing campaigns from such big names in the industry are, and they often signal a general acceptance of a given marketing approach in the market. When big firms take on the approach, smaller companies usually follow leading to the widespread use of the medium. Here's the most interesting parts from the article:

The coffee giant tapped digital technology provider Codilink, which specializes in mobile services helping companies to offer loyalty programs to their clients. The campaign is currently running in Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but based on the 60 percent mobile coupon redemption rate, it is likely to be expanded.

“The main strategies of this campaign are to reward loyal Starbucks customers and to get to know new customers and attract them to their stores,” said Rodrigo Rivero Borrell, director/CEO of Codilink Mexico, Mexico City. “On the one hand we’re helping people to get to know the brand and the product and rewarding loyal customers with prizes and discounts.

“We were offering a system to create the coupons and track them to learn more about their customers, and mobile is the key way of doing that,” he said. “Starbucks also wanted to target younger people, and mobile is the most appropriate way to do that.”

Currently about 80 percent of consumers in Mexico have mobile phones for a total of approximately 76 million subscribers.

I was particularly intrigued by the above comment, about how coupons will also be used to build profiles for the customers. This is a very forward-thinking approach, and if Starbucks really go forward with personalizing the customer experience for something as personal and everyday need (speaking for those of us with near-addiction to coffee :) ), I believe it will win them an even greater market segment.

Starbucks is equipped with 2D bar code recognition software, so employees can read the mobile coupon directly from consumers’ mobile phones at the point of sale.

“Every time you present your coupon, the offer would be modified, such as get a venti for the price of a tall, to make people come more often to the store,” Mr. Borrell said. “What Starbucks cares about most is the number of people who actually present 2D bar codes, and the redemption rate was about 60 percent.

I expect that, once successful in Mexico, Starbucks mobile coupons will soon make an appearance in more countries, and I presume, judging by previous Starbucks strategy, that it won't be too long before we see them expanding.