National Free Food Day

Do you love free food? Do you download restaurant apps for their coupons and discounts?

Most millennials have fancy iPhones with tons of storage, but all of that storage is filled with pictures and videos. As for me, my storage is gone because of the amount of restaurant apps I have on my phone. I am all about those weekly deals and free food offers from all of my favorite places--which is an excellent marketing technique for people like me.   

This past Thursday was National Free Food Day with the Hooked app. The Hooked app is one of my favorite apps that has deals for multiple local restaurants such as Smoothie King, Zoe's Kitchen, Subway, and much more. On Thursday, the Hooked app wanted to show its appreciation for its users across college campuses by giving a unique deal to Michigan State,Tennessee, Mizzou, North Carolina, and much more!
                                
For Athens, Hooked gave us a special deal for 5 free boneless wings at Wing Zone (which is amazing). Other deals across the country were a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich, free six inch sub, free smoothie, and a free scoop at ColdStone. 

This was a perfect marketing strategy for Hooked as well as many restaurants. This app is widely used by college kids who are on a budget or are too lazy to cook so it only makes to give their fanbase free food to say thanks for making their app so successful. In addition, many popular and local business who don't normally go onto the Hooked app can experience a surge of sale and popularity after National Free Food Day. 

Do yourself a favor and download the Hooked app for incredible deals at your favorite, local restaurants. Not only are you helping Hooked and restaurants gain popularity, you are helping yourself by getting amazing food!

Starbucks Red Cup

Calling all coffee lovers (again). Everyone knows the Pumpkin Spice Latte is the biggest thing to happen every Fall, but the reveal of the Starbucks red cup is the biggest event of the holiday season. 

Everyone knows that the reveal of the Starbucks red cup signifies the start of the holiday season with its beautiful winter designs and classic look, but no one expected a controversy to blow up about this. In 2015, Starbucks fans criticized that the evolution of the designs, which have gone from reindeer and ornaments to snowflakes, are a war on Christmas. As a result, Starbucks ended their designs by releasing a plain red cup for the 2015 holiday season. 

But has Starbucks decide to add holiday designs back to their cups? Recently a Starbucks employee peeked at the new red cup, which isn't supposed to come out until November 10th, and released a sneak peak to the public. Whether you're getting the infamous Peppermint Mocha or a regular cup of joe, you can show off the simple, yet elegant holiday design consisting of leaves, berries, and birds.

Personally, I think this is very appropriate for the Holiday season no matter what people choose to celebrate. Starbucks is only trying to turn their designs into something more neutral and accepting, but only time will tell if this new design causes an uproar. 

Want to read more? http://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/2/13497068/starbucks-green-cup-controversy-explained