Vint

Recently VINT Coffee placed a full page ad in LEO Weekly, mocking Starbucks for having too many locations. I've always found that a really weird stance for anyone to take. Not only was I turned off by that sentiment (I am an unabashed Starbucks fan, and even had a solo art exhibition in one a few years back) but I thought it was bizarre that the word "Starbucks" actually dominated VINT's own ad. From a PR standpoint I think that's ill-advised; others might just call it stupid.

So this morning, I was double-dog dumbfounded to see this billboard for VINT, which consists mainly of.... a giant fucking Starbucks cup. Though it's not as mean-spirited, condescending and haughty as their LEO ad, it still rubs me the wrong way. Someone's getting some really atrocious marketing advice here, and they need someone new in charge of their ad campaign immediately (I'm available.) I mean, really, this is a great ad... for Starbucks.

Someone probably thought in a brainstorming session that openly calling out your biggest competitor was "ballsy". It isn't. It actually screams "insecure". Though Starbucks is my main coffee source, I visit all Louisville coffee houses from time to time, including VINT. But now I'm less inclined to ever go there again, even with free samples dangled before me.

People always expect a hipster bohemian artiste such as myself to take the liberal position that all things corporate and huge are automatically bad. Starbucks has always been a useful tool for me to illustrate to others that if I like a product, I don't give a damn where it came from or whether it's "cool", and that I do not oppose something just because it got big and successful. Things are supposed to get big and successful.