Coffee cups and billboards now have something in common. Advertising. Starbucks and Lions Gate Films will turn coffee cups into mini billboards to promote Akeelah and the Bee, an upcoming movie.

Forget Happy Meals, the new generation of movie moguls recognize that parents tow their tots to Starbucks on a regular basis. The coffee shops will feature sneak previews of the movie and employees will have private screenings, in hopes they’ll talk up the movie to patrons.

It makes perfect sense. At 10:30 am today, a Sunday, I visited the Granville and Georgia Starbucks with my own tot. Inside, I found eight other tykes and pre-teens with their parents. No wonder movie promoters have headed to Starbucks.

(c) 2005 by Andrea Coutu. Vancouver Marketing Consultant. All rights reserved.