Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Starbucks’ Mixed Messages, Ethical Truthiness, #smfail

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 5, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:3 Comments

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
–Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, The Usual Suspects

[UPDATED BELOW; THRICE!] Starbucks profited greatly from years of an aggressive and purposeful over-expansion that successfully wiped out many of their independent competitors and established their brand as a counter-intuitive status symbol (it’s just coffee, people; get over yourselves!), but the beaten-down economy has made their overpriced coffees a luxury many are choosing to do without, and the bean counters are starting to feel the heat.

2008 wasn’t a very good year for SBUX, and 2009 isn’t tracking too well, either, as 2nd-quarter net income reportedly dropped 77 percent, while Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s McCafé are threatening to chip away at their market share:

Starbucks has for the last year tried to reverse declining revenue by closing stores and recasting itself as an affordable brand for value-conscious consumers. The company has long been characterized as appealing to affluent professionals, while abandoning the lower end of the market to competitors like McDonald’s, which has begun selling specialty coffee drinks.

So in March, Starbucks began offering a breakfast value meal. Customers can buy a cup of coffee and an egg sandwich, cup of oatmeal or piece of coffee cake for $3.95.

Mr. Schultz said the company’s new value-oriented strategy is paying off…

“Speculation that Starbucks is losing retail market share to competitors has been grossly exaggerated,” Mr. Schultz said on a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. “Starbucks coffee does not cost $4, as people are charging.” The comment was a reference to a recent ad campaign by McDonald’s that says, “Four bucks is dumb.”

Schultz’ optimistic bravado is betrayed by his company’s actions, though, as their “value-oriented strategy” is contradicted by a new, notably defensive ad campaign that suggests they probably agree that “four bucks is dumb”, but realize they can’t say that; nor can they really compete on the value playing field without compromising what their brand has come to stand for.

Starbucks calories by pnoeric

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Stop Interrupting; Listen, Engage, Earn Attention

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 29, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:3 Comments

Youre not listening anyway. by MadRussianPhotography — You're not listening anyway. by MadRussianPhotography

You know the stereotype of the guy on the first date who can’t stop talking about himself, only to wonder why he doesn’t get a kiss at the end of the night, never mind a second date?

That guy is like advertising.

In the latest flare-up of the “print is dead” debate, Michael Josefowicz’ provocative article for MediaShift entitled “The Fallacy of the ‘Print Is Dead’ Meme” has generated some interesting feedback, partly for daring to counter the meme, and partly for clinging to the ad-supported model that has pushed many newspapers and magazines onto the endangered list:

[T]o extrapolate from personal experience to a statement about what is going to happen in the world doesn’t work. But that’s exactly what many of the people foretelling the death of print are doing.

That’s because most of the public discourse tends to be dominated by information junkies and there is little doubt that if you’re an information junkie, the web is the way to go. But the reality is that info-junkies are only a small tribe. They consume the news at a prodigious rate and the web is the fastest way to satisfy their appetite. Thus, they’re also the most vocal tribe — so it’s easy to get the impression that theirs is the most widely held conclusion. But if you listen to some of the discourse, it soon becomes apparent that it’s only one way to look at it…

Because every business understands the value of print advertising, the trick is only to make the buy for a print/web ad combo easy and affordable.

Responding to MediaBistro’s highlighting of the article, I noted: “I agree with Josefowicz that print isn’t dead, but he’s wrong about advertising; that ship has sailed. Interruption IS dead.”

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Spindle: New Content for April

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 28, 2009
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

Spindle Magazine: A New York State of Mind

Things were looking dicey for April — I’m still almost a week behind on NaPoWriMo, not to mention the craziness of the real world — but I managed to post some new content before the calendar turned, with great poetry from Erica Miriam Fabri and micro-fiction from James Bezerra and Dominic Preziosi.

Check them out at: http://spindlezine.com

Also, be sure to poke through the archives and revisit some great features like “Love, New York Style” and an interview with WORDS IN YOUR FACE author, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz.

OTHER UPDATES:

You do know Spindle has a spanking new Facebook Page now, right?

Next month, I’m hoping to get our columnists back up and running again, as well as to start catching up on the growing backlog of 2009 submissions. (I’m finally completely caught up on everything Spindle-related from 2008, except for the columns.) I’m also going to have a great special feature that came out of the Acentos Writers Workshop I facilitated this past Sunday.
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Tone Deaf Publishers Need Savvy Writers

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 27, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:5 Comments

In response to a question about lessons they'd learned from the failure of a book to sell as well as expected — something that was acknowledged several times as being the norm not the exception — one offered an example of an unnamed book that the stars had seemingly all aligned for: it was a great book the editor loved, that their publisher believed was going to be a hit, that got great reviews from all of the major mainstream outlets... and it flopped. In the final bit of unacknowledged irony, one of them briefly noted that examples of successful self-publishing were rare and magical.

Poem-A-Day Challenge: Days 20-22

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 26, 2009
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

I’m way behind again, the furthest yet, and am “cheating” a little bit to catch up by going with only one of the PAD prompts I missed (Day 21) and two from the Acentos Writers Workshop I facilitated today. I’m still commited to making 30/30 by the end of the month, but from here on they might not all be via the PAD prompts, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Prompt: Pick a place and an emotion; personify the former using the latter.

Prompt: Write a poem about a paradox.

Prompt: “Two for Tuesday”: Write a haiku, or write about the haiku.

YANKEE STADIUM CRIED

As its replacement evolved
from good intentions to boondoggle
the House that Ruth built and Dent furnished
looked across the street and shed
no tears, confident that its memory
would live on in the hearts
of the true fans who can’t afford
to embrace something new.

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Bursting the Social Media Bubble

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 22, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:9 Comments

THE_REAL_SHAQ

How can u b an expert without legitimate knowledge or legitimate experience Shaq oneal
about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry

It’s been fascinating watching the odd, mostly one-sided battle going on between so-called social media experts and traditional marketing and PR professionals, as the former continue to pound their virtual drums on a daily basis about how they’re the future and without their expertise, companies are doomed to failure.

DOOMED!

I wrote about the need for some perspective a couple of weeks ago in “Attack of the Social Media Gurus“, and have been tracking the growing backlash there with links to relevant articles as they pop up — including one of my favorites from Ad Age featuring Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Simon Clift’s wise observation: “Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you’ll need to deploy it as a tactic.” — but a recent comment by social media “rock star” Chris Brogan really rubbed me the wrong way, giving flashbacks to the explosion of the first dot.com bubble, and underscoring one of the main reasons some marketers, and the executives they report to, are reluctant to fully embrace social “media”.

Shaquille O’Neal, of all people, pretty much nailed it last night on Twitter with the aforementioned tweet.

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Upcoming Gigs: Panel, Workshop, Evolution

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 20, 2009
Post category:Media Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

I don’t do many events these days beyond the random open mic appearance at louderARTS or Urbana, so I’m very excited about these two gigs this week, the NY Round Table Writers’ Conference and Acentos Poetry Workshop, as well as the Conversational Marketing Summit I’ll be attending in June.

NY Round Table Writers’ Conference

Friday, April 24th: 3:15 – 5pm

The Technofile: Online Writing and Blogging
Popular online literary website writers and bloggers come together to discuss the online writing outlet.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez- Spindle Magazine

Pamela Skillings- About.com

Rebecca Fox- MediaBistro

Julie Trelstad- Plain White Press

Roy Sekoff- Huffington Post, moderator

Acentos Writers Workshop

Sunday, April 26th: Noon

Workshop – Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

The Acentos Writers Workshop was established with the purpose of nurturing the newer voices in the poetry community. With writers from across several genres donating their time, the workshop encourages newer writers to hone their craft, establish and create community, and perform their work in front of growing audiences. The workshop accepts writers of all backgrounds and skill level to foster growth and maximize their full potential and grow as writers.

The workshops are free. RSVP is required.

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