5/9/2005

One of the meanest, hippest AND biggest advertising spots in Tokyo is the Q-Front building, in Shibuya crossing, just opposite the station. That’s where crowds of people come in regular flocks from the various trains and subway lines and wait to cross the street while looking at the ads and videoclips on the giant screens in front of them. Of course, apart from the screens, if you want 100% display time, you can put giant billboards on the side of the building. That is where Nintendo chose to advertise for the DS a while back. It is huge and you better have a lot of money and something really cool to announce if you want to display it here.

Of course, the first and second floor of the Q-Front building is already a big advertisement for Starbucks. They have their worldwide busiest shop there. And big green letters spelling it out for you in case you didn’t get it yet. Well, that was not enough for Starbucks this time: they had something to announce and they wanted to make it loud.

So, ?…

They made their catchcopy even shorter than the “world’s shortest catchcopy ever“. Shorter than anything. Yet, very big, and very appealing for anyone who drinks Starbucks.

So, if you understood so far, on May the 11th, something will be revealed and it is going to be big, and it is from Starbucks, but it is a surprise. Except it isn’t one really. Beacuse just outside the building, on the facade of Starbucks actually, there is a poster that announces the release of Frappuccino Light on May the 11th. So much for the teasing I guess…

If you don’t know about Frappuccino Light, it is a lighter version of the original Frappuccino, and it has been around in the US since June 2004. Apparently, it uses Splenda instead of sugar (can anyone confirm this?) and has 30-40 percent fewer calories than the original Frappuccino series.