Starbucks Received An ASTRONOMICAL Amount Of "Free" Advertising Value From Game Of Thrones, and The Cup Wasn't Even Theirs

CNBC - Starbucks gained an estimated $2.3 billion in free advertising over the last few days after a modern-day coffee cup was spotted during a “Game of Thrones” episode — and it turns out it wasn’t even a Starbucks cup. On Sunday, eagle-eyed fans of HBO’s fantasy epic noticed something out of place during a feast scene. Photos and videos of the moment went viral on social media within hours of the show airing. The label is muddled in shadow, but many fans speculated that it was the iconic green siren from Starbucks — and most of the jokes and discussion called out the Seattle coffee chain by name. Turns out, it was just a craft services cup. Stacy Jones, CEO of marketing company Hollywood Branded, put the estimated value of all the buzz at $2.3 billion. Jones cited PR subscriptions service Critical Mention, which has tallied 10,627 mentions of Starbucks and ‘Game of Thrones’ online and on TV and radio around the world. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime collision of opportunity for Starbucks,” she said. “But really, this is just the tip of the iceberg, because what isn’t being monitored or estimated is the word of mouth and social media on top of this.” Separately, social media analytics and monitoring platform Talkwalker counted more than 193,000 mentions within 48 hours that cited both Starbucks and “Game of Thrones,” or a variation of the series’ hashtag, on Twitter, in social forums, blogs and news sites. Starbucks declined to comment.

Shhhh. Listen real close. Do you hear that? Thats the sound of Darren Rovell cumming himself to the moon. I picture him flying around the room, propelled by cum, like when you let go of a blown up balloon and it whizzes all around the room. Like a witch riding a broomstick except in his case he’s riding his own dick and he took flight via cum propulsion and brand value.

$2.3 billion! With a B! Obviously these numbers are completely made up. And what does this actually do for Starbucks? Is there someone out there who drinks Dunkin Donuts coffee who all of a sudden is gonna be like “Nope. Not today. Today I drink Starbucks because Dany had that cup in front of her!” No, obviously not. To be honest I think that about all advertising for the major companies.  The top beer companies paying for Super Bowl commercials? Why? I’ve been drinking Bud Light for eternity and Im gonna continue to do so, regardless of if I see their Clydesdales doing some shit at the Super Bowl. I’m not switching because I see the Coors Light Love Train blast through a mountain for 30 seconds. (Bud Light just received about $750 worth of free advertising in that last sentence. Sorry, Dave.)  At the same time, I’m not an idiot. I get it. Its not like Bud Light is in the direct response game and they are gonna measure total number of bottles sold per dollar spent on the commercial. I understand overall brand awareness value. I understand that some of this stuff is subliminal and idiots like me feel that they are immune to advertising are actually being persuaded by that $5 million commercial. Maybe the reason Ive been drinking it for an eternity is because of some singing frogs or white people yelling WHAZZZZZ UPPPPPP.

But I dont know, man. The one thing I do know for sure, however, is there arent 2.3 billion dollar mistakes. HBO has gotta pay a few million dollars an episode for the talent. They gotta pay top dollar to make a CGI dog for nobody to interact with. They gotta orchestrate a $20 million battle that nobody can see. And lets be honest how many more sign ups are they getting for Thrones? I’d imagine 70 episodes in they have exhausted any potential HBO subscribers tuning in for Thrones. Gotta make that paper somehow, right? And if you’ve got some digital real estate worth 2.3 billion, and you’ve only got 3 episodes left, its time to secure the bag. Just call Starbucks and tell em you got a cup that looks like theirs, you’ll toss it on a table right now, and you’ll get 2.3 billi worth of value. Charge em 1.3 billion and tell Sbux they are still coming out 1 billion dollars ahead. Just get the same deal that Taylor Swift struck with them when she said “Got a lonely Starbucks Lover” on Blank Space. Stay woke, my friends. Stay woke.