By David E. Johnson, CEO, Strategic Vision, LLCUnless a person has been totally hidden from social media or traditional media, they know that Starbucks has unveiled its Christmas season cup.  The cup is plain red with the Starbucks logo emblazoned on it.  The company kept it simple with the traditional colors of the season in an effort to foster inclusiveness and diversity it claimed.  The reaction has been incredible.  Many claiming to be leading Christians blasted the company for omitting traditional holiday messages on the cup as in pervious years or missing the reason of the season.  In fact the Starbucks red cup has been one of the biggest stories on social media and in traditional media.  The Starbucks holiday cup has been of the most frequent searches on Google.  Starbucks has emerged as a branding winner in this story.How were they able to make this controversy a winner for the brand?First they were very measured in their response to critics.  Rather than ignore the controversy or go into full crisis mode, they were nuanced.  On their website they reiterated their main point of why they were doing the simple red cup.  For millions who buy into the Starbucks’ brand story that response just reinforced their belief in the brands.  For others, it was a non-story not pitting Starbucks against its critics.  And the media could not make a bigger story of the controversy from the company’s response so the story continued to be the new holiday cup and not Starbucks versus its critics.With the increased noise over the Starbucks’ holiday cup, the Starbucks website saw increased traffic.  Starbucks with this increased traffic in mind put its holiday offerings – Christmas blend and other products front and center on the website.  What a great way to advertise!Long-term as I mentioned it, reinforced the brand identity to its loyal customers.  Consumers expect their brands to tell a story and share their values.  Starbucks in this holiday cup saga reinforced the social values that so many of its loyal consumers have come to expect from the company.Finally, Starbucks reaped millions in free publicity.  It was a major story in all of the media.  Social media is still several days later abuzz with the story.  People who know little about Starbucks and its various holiday offerings now do.  All achieved at very little cost to the company.Starbucks has emerged as a major winner with its holiday cup saga.  Other brands can learn from it.