Putting Sedona on the Map

Though Sedona, Arizona is a worldwide destination known for its scenery, spas and resorts, it’s not well known for its coffee. That may change thanks to a unique blend created by a local Starbucks manager and a branding campaign produced by photographer/designer Bill Louf.

Labels on demand: Bill Louf prints on-demand labels for the local Starbucks' Sedona Red brand with LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin Paper. Louf designed the logo around his photo of Sedona's Snoopy Rock formation for this most-popular local coffee blend.

Louf owns Image Master in Sedona and was approached to help the local Starbucks, a licensed franchise located in the Hyatt, to submit one of his photographs of the iconic red rock scenery surrounding Sedona to label the new coffee blend called Sedona Red.

One thing led to another and Louf ended up not only providing his photography (a shot of Sedona’s Snoopy Rock), but his design, Photoshop and printing expertise as well. After about nine revisions, a final design was approved that included the original Snoopy Rock photo morphed with another shot Louf had taken in Utah for the sky, and the addition of coffee beans Photoshopped in the foreground.

Customer Service Pick-Me-Up

I am not a coffee junkie. I don’t have to have a caffeine blast first thing in the morning, though I sometimes enjoy a nice cup of joe from Starbucks or Einstein Bros. When I get that craving for Starbucks, I stop by this one particular location that takes me on a scenic route to work. In other words, it’s not exactly on my way. I stop there because the people are always cheerful, even at 6:30 in the morning (I guess it makes sense when you work at Starbucks!).

One morning on one of my coffee excursions I noticed that Starbucks happened to be promoting the Seasonal flavors of their instant coffee, Via. There are four different flavors, but they only offer them in single flavor packs of six.

I mentioned to the drive-thru cashier that I would be interested in a 3 pack, but not having tasted any of the flavors yet I wasn’t quite willing to commit to a 6 pack. Instead of simply saying, “Sorry! I wish I could help,” she asked her manager if it would be possible to put together a variety pack for me.

In order to provide a good customer experience, the manager said yes. I expected to pay for four individual packets, but the cashier rang it up at the cost of a 6 pack and used a $1 off coupon that I didn’t even know about.

It wasn’t until I got to the office and looked in the box that I realized the variety pack she put together for me consisted of two of each flavor for a total of eight packets for the price of six and $1 off! Now that’s what I call taking care of the customer!