Marketing Archives — Page 19 of 43

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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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.

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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Time, Inc.’s “mine” fumbles kickoff

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 14, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:2 Comments

mine: Time, Inc's custom magazine — mine: Time, Inc.'s custom magazine

“Oh, I get it. It’s very clever. How’s that working out for you?”
–Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Well, it seemed like a good idea.

Magazine publishing executives are under a lot of pressure these days after the perfect storm of a wretched economy and the deflating of the emedia bubble have wreaked havoc on their already narrow profit margins as advertising declined precipitously in 2008 and isn’t looking much better so far in 2009. Many people have lost their jobs as a slew of magazines have folded, contracted, or moved to an online-only existence, and the most optimistic projections don’t predict a turnaround before 2010.

Which magazines will still be standing next year is anyone’s guess, but in the midst of much hand-wringing and speculation, Time, Inc. launched an interesting initiative that caught my attention: mine: My Magazine, My Way — a single-sponsored, customized publication, print and digital, featuring content from up to five of their eight most advertiser-friendly brands.

I got my first issue in the mail last night and, if it represents the best effort Time, Inc. can put forward, I’d suggest selling their stock quickly if you’re crazy enough to still own any, and considering a Plan B if you work for a print-centric media company.

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Attack of the Social Media Gurus

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 10, 2009
Post category:Media
Post comments:9 Comments

Scream Duck at it again. by digicolleen (permission granted)

Have you heard, yet? EVERYBODY is on Twitter!

It’s grown 1,382,000% since last year!

Even William Shatner is using it!

This may come as a surprise but I don’t have a degree in acting. http://tinyurl.com/ct6sut Please subscribe to my YouTube channel

1:54 PM Mar 21st from web

Also, Google is dead; Facebook is broken; and those dreadlocked guys with the funny dance moves are lip-synching!

Okay, fine, Rob and Fab really couldn’t sing, but if any of the 8 million people who bought their album back in 1989 did so because of their videos and dancing, they deserved to be duped. The rest is hyperbolic BS that’s been floating around the Twitterverse lately, mostly promoted by self-proclaimed social media gurus trying to make a quick buck, and websites like Mashable, which recently changed its tagline to “The Social Media Guide”, looking to capitalize on a trend and boost their ad impressions.

Seriously, can we get a little perspective here?

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