The 12 Star Dash promotion is currently taking place and consumers can participate through Sept. 9. Starbucks is encouraging consumers to join the race and earn 12 stars between Aug. 27 and Sept. 9 to receive a $5 eGift.

“I don’t think the Starbucks promotion is compelling to most consumers,” said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism.

“Consumers have to buy a full 12 drinks in a short period of 12 days before they get just $5 in rewards,” he said. “The effort and expense is not worth the reward.”

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with Starbucks. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Starbucks did not respond to press inquiries.

Join the fun
Starbucks sent out an email to its My Starbucks Rewards members that informed them about the promotion.

Consumers were encouraged to register to participate.

Through the campaign, consumers are asked to either use their registered Starbucks Card or mobile app to pay for drinks at the point-of-sale.

For every drink, consumers earn one star. 

A promotion such as this is a great way to reward loyal customers.

Additionally, by encouraging them to use their mobile device, Starbucks is educating consumers to pay for goods and services via their handsets.

Coffee lovers
Starbucks has been ruling the mobile space for a while now.

The company is gradually using mobile to its advantage.

Earlier this year, Starbucks ramped up its mobile strategy and encouraged consumers to sign up for its My Starbucks Rewards program via an in-store call-to-action (see story).

Additionally, the company let coffee lovers find their favorite roast via a campaign that incorporated mobile bar codes.

The company promoted its coffee roast such as Blonde, Medium and Dark in its in-store locations. Starbucks also handed out bookmark fliers to consumers that not only included a coupon, but also featured a QR code (see story).

Most recently, the coffee giant partnered with foursquare on its latest initiative. The campaign boosted awareness for the RED initiative that aims to fight AIDS (see story).

“Incentives drive behavior so I suggest all marketers give consumers a compelling offer if they want them to engage in their promotions and campaigns,” Mr. Buckingham said.

“Fewer stars earned over a longer period would clearly move this promotion beyond just rewarding the power consumers who are purchasing coffee frequently anyway,” he said. “Perhaps Starbucks is relying on the caffeine jolt alone to impel consumers to engage in this campaign.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York