Feeling the need to defend yourself is a sign you feel threatened. Spending money on advertising to dissuade or change people's minds about your competition is a sign you are afraid. My buddy, John Moore from Brand Autopsy, sent me these [...]
Starbucks Coffee Company's CMO, Terry Davenport, provided a preview of their new long-term brand campaign on their Ideas In Action blog. Terry declares that Starbucks is finally going to start telling its story. (1) I hope so. (2) I hope it [...]
Below is a picture of me, back in my Starbucks days, donning the "Mercury Man" out-of-store sampling tank (Version 2.0) The backpack contraption contains a pressurized, thermal container used to sample fresh brewed coffee in crowds and at special events. Version [...]
In the oldest part of Athens, Greece called The Plaka, the guidelines for commercial signage requires that signs be hand-crafted. So Starbucks had a wooden, hand-painted sign created locally. The slight (and I mean slight) imperfections make it cooler. [click for [...]
While visiting Seattle last week, I was able to experience the Starbucks | Apple iTunes Song of the Day promotion. I mentioned this a few weeks ago when blogging about Apple's announcement of the iPod Touch. To build awareness and trial [...]
I have a quick story for you that involves my mom, dad, a latte, and creative problem solving. Mom and dad were out-of-town on a business trip. In the hotel room, minutes before they had to leave for a dinner event, [...]
For all those people that commented how "un-hip" it was of Starbucks to install music-CD burning stations in the age of mp3s, this announcement may make up for that... First... Apple has re-launched their line-up of iPod devices, including the new [...]
Because of my recent chatter about Starbucks, I received a note from the folks running Do The Right Thing.com. It is a social media site about "people changing business." People can share information about companies and others rate the relative social [...]
This article is the 5th in a series of 5 where John Moore and I, two former Starbucks marketers, offer recommended changes based upon Howard Schultz's email to the Starbucks leadership team. I have said for 20 years that our success is [...]
This is the 4th in a series of 5 posts where John Moore and I, two former Starbucks marketers, offer recommended changes based upon Howard Schultz's email to his leadership team. "The merchandise, more art than science, is far removed from [...]
