Going...going...gone!

For many people, Starbuck's Unicorn Frappuccino was as mythical as its namesake animal. Appearing for limited release dates from April 19 -23, the drink made an instant sensation causing it to instead disappear within 24 hours in most locations. Even before the unicorns made their way into the stores, they had a magical following of grown women wistful for their days of playing with "My Little Pony." 2016 into '17  brought us a love of unicorns that expanded beyond little girls. I will be the first to admit that it's pretty easy to catch my attention with colorful sparkly items. While I would never have the guts to do the whimsical unicorn hair colors, I will admit that I, too, adore this girly trend of unicorn inspiration.

With that said, it should be no surprise that when my Starbucks app gave me the heads up, that the Unicorn Frappuccino would make an appearance at Starbucks, I immediately planned to surprise my little cutie with one on the day that it came out. Unfortunately, on April 19th, Miss Jay stayed home sick. No problem. We could just as easily have one the next day. PROBLEM! My Facebook feed was filled with posts of people getting turned away...all of the Starbucks in the area were out of the ingredients to make this mythical drink. We are even in the coffee capital of the country. 

I saw the reviews (and complaints) and debated if it was worth it to chase down the unicorn. After using my handy Starbucks app to track down a location still offering one, I placed my order and rushed out the door. I have to admit that this was my first time using the mobile ordering. My first thought was, "Wait- I have to get out of my car to get it." I headed in to the mobile order pick up spot, only to find no drink. My first instinct was to judge the app. 'Okay, the app said 4-6 minutes to get here and the drink would take 5-10 minutes to make. Yep- wasted my time using the app- no drink and nobody making it." Wrong. They were out of the ingredients to make the mythical Unicorn Frappuccino. 

Let me tell you that this is where Starbucks impressed me. Yes, we hear all of the complaints about overworked baristas, too sweet, too sour, and the controversial one of the little boy saying that it tasted like dog $#@%. I knew what I was getting into before I ordered the drink. A super sweet milk based frappuccino with no coffee in it. This is where I could complain that they ran out or what it tastes like. Instead, this this where I tell you the great customer service that I received from Starbucks. The crew felt so bad that the app let me order it (most locations showed this item as unavailable on the app) that they contacted another store to piece together enough ingredients to make me that mythical unicorn. On top of that, as a way of making up for the wait, they offered me anything that I wanted to eat.

As for the actual drink itself, no- it wasn't actually my tastes. The reason that it wasn't my tastes wasn't wholly the fault of the drink. It reminded me a lot of a blended version of an Italian soda. The truth is that I am not a fan of Italian sodas. The fruity, milky mix just isn't for me. A lot of people are hating on Starbucks for a mediocre tasting gimmick. Well, the taste is all on the consumer. Even though Starbucks have other frappuccino items that have no coffee, some of the misconceptions that I heard were people upset that it had no coffee base to it. As for gimmick, it actually was an impressive marketing strategy. Starbucks found a way to capitalize on the unicorn trend. As much as people want to complain, it worked! Consumers flocked into the stores faster that baristas could make the drinks, causing it to sell out way ahead of it's already limited schedule. 

I do have one suggestion for Starbucks. Ladies still like girly looking color unicorns. Bring it back with a few changes. Keep some of the fruit flavor, but balance it with a white chocolate mocha. This will allow the colorful look, but give it a more grown up delicious taste. Several of their Northwest competitors already offer white chocolate based berry flavored mochas. This actually just puts them into the same market, with a prettier frappuccino. Keep the sparkles, lose the sour. 

We did have fun playing with Starbuck's Unicorn Snapchat filter. Again, they actual did awesome marketing their play on the unicorn trend. 

Starbuck's Unicorn Frappuccino