I recently saw a post on Twitter spreading the news about a new promotion Starbucks was doing through Facebook. Apparently they’re launching a new product line of coffee flavored ice cream, and this was their big viral marketing effort.

They gave away 800 coupons for free pints of ice cream per hour until they gave away a total 20,000. All that was required to receive a coupon was to visit their application and enter a friends information to whom they would send a coupon via snail mail. I sent one to my wife (she has the coupon – hasn’t tried the ice cream yet).

This promotion obviously spread very quickly, and even I found myself telling numerous people about it.

What was interesting is that every time I told someone about the promotion, their immediate response was “Starbucks sells ice cream?” To which I responded, I guess they are now and I assume that’s why they’re doing this promotion.

Most people I told didn’t end up getting a free coupon, but every single one of them now knows that Starbucks sells ice cream.

Do people know what you’re selling?