Starbucks Shows Varieties of Beverages with T-Shirts

Fans of Starbucks can soon wear their favorite drinks to express their individuality and fondness for the brand.

Under its latest campaign, Starbucks is letting people design and order T-shirts online.

The goal? To show customers how easy it is to customize their beverage of choice.

At Starbucks.com, visitors handpick drink elements that will be incorporated into the design of the shirts, including drink size and flavors. The cost and shipping are free.

Fashion designer Mychael Knight, best known for his role on Project Runway, is creating icons that can be placed on the T-shirts.

“It’s all about personalization and individuality,” says Tricia Moriarty, spokesperson for Starbucks Coffee Co. “It’s a fun and interesting way to communicate our beverage choices.”

Starbucks has more than 50,000 drink combinations. The campaign is designed to ease the intimidation factor of ordering a beverage and get customers to try something new, Moriarty said.

As part of the campaign, Knight will make in-store appearances to talk up the promotion. Ten T-shirts, designed by Knight, will be given away as raffle prizes at each location. Details on locations such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta are available at the Web site. The giveaway runs through Feb. 28.

The site also includes a link to a list of popular drinks and celebrity favorites, as well as details about Knight.

Starbucks is promoting the campaign with in-store signage, on its home page and on Internet sites including CNN.com, Epicurious.com, MySpace.com and NewYorker.com.

An online game and sweepstakes overlay runs on Epicurious.com. In the Be the Barista game, consumers learn how to customize drinks like Starbucks employees. Visitors can also enter a sweeps for a chance to win $25 Starbucks gift cards. Two hundred prizes will be awarded in all.

The Seattle-based company handles the campaign in-house. Another firm, Oregon Screen Impressions, handles fulfillment. The sweepstakes runs through March 15. Online materials support the promotion.

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