Skimming through Nations Restaurant News, I came across this interesting tidbit: Seattle-based Wieden (of Nike 'Just Do It' fame) just resigned the Starbucks account.
Is 'resigned' too harsh a word? Maybe not. Starbucks asked for pitches, inviting Wieden and others - and Wieden politely declined.
This says something about the state of Starbucks.
Once a progressive company in their marketing and branding (single-handedly turning something simple into an experience - and becoming media darlings for over 10 years because of it), they may have become as staid and traditional as a big box retailer.
Heaven knows, when you walk into a big box retailer, you just might find a Starbucks inside.
To me, this says Starbucks is no longer looking for creative that breaks through. They've stopped playing to win.
Usually when an agency drops a high-profile client like this, it's because the client has stopped asking for highest-quality creative, become too high-maintenance - or both.
Maybe cost-cutting made the client look hard at the results from Wieden.
Over the summer, Starbucks did announce the closings of around 600 locations. And my local location is only selling about four music titles - rather than the dozen or so they used to.
Truth be told, Starbucks has ceased to be someplace where I discover new things - which was a big part of their "experience" branding.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
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1 comments:
Interesting. I remember my dad saying, about six or seven years ago that Starbucks was predicted to eventually gross more, annually, than Coke. What happened? I think it's primarily because coffee's too easy to copy, and Coke simply is not.
I was talking to my local McDonalds GM the other morning about the direction that The Mick is going to be taking, under these gloomy economic clouds. Our local McD's is going to remodel and build a top-end coffee bar, with comfortable "camper" seating and a live pianist for three, three hour segments per day from the local college music departments.
The times, they are a-changin'.
Mike Sulhoff
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