Hasta La Creative!

Yesterday marked the largest rollout in Starbucks history. The three-year project is complete and ready for the public. What was implemented? Not a price reduction.

Starbucks is redoing its food menu in an effort to offer “real” food (i.e. no artificial flavors, dyes and trans-fats). The bakery case is getting a 90% overhaul.

What brought on this sudden rollout? Mayhaps it’s the fact that McDonald’s has been promoting its McCafe like crazy. Perhaps it’s the chain’s 8% sales and 77% earnings drop since last quarter. Either way, I think Starbucks is taking the right steps in the wrong direction.

I am speaking as a consumer and a Starbucks’ fan. My qualm with Starbucks is not the lack of “healthy food options” — it’s the lack of money in my pocket after one visit to the place. Damn, people, give your consumers a break! I realize that the government is not calling our economic times a crisis, but I’m sure that there are more individuals than not who are feeling crisis-like symptoms. No one’s asking for a handout, but a hand would work. Why do you think McDonald’s is doing so well? Value. It keeps its prices down. Even now, when all food chains are struggling, McDonald’s is gaining in sales.

In an ironic turn of event, McDonald’s rolled out a “premium” offering of their own. Sticking with their strengths, they’ve rolled out a Premium burger. Though currently available in select markets as a promotional item, the burgers will eventually be offered nationally in three varieties: Deluxe (topped with mayonnaise, yellow mustard, a slice of tomato, lettuce, red onion rings, sliced dill pickles and American cheese slices); Bacon & Cheese (topped with ketchup, yellow mustard, red onion rings, sliced dill pickles, three bacon slices and American cheese slices); and Mushroom & Swiss (topped with mayonnaise, sautéed mushrooms and Swiss cheese slices). McDonald’s is keeping the National launch under wraps, yet somehow publicized their “test” launch on the same day Starbuck’s attempts to re-invent itself. I smell a mole in the coffee.

I really hope that Starbucks succeeds with all this effort because I would hate to lose my Tall Mocha Frappuccino’s in a Grande cup, extra ice, and no whip.

Rena Prizant is a Copywriter, Ad Creative and mammal in the Chicago area, professionally word playing since 2002. Rena writes smart, engaging, dynamic copy for a broad range of mediums and industries; and loves helping start-up’s get their branding feet. Visit www.RenaPrizant.com or Twitter WriteLeft.

This is an excerpt of an early 2009 interview with a McDonald’s Coffee-Banger Street Lieutentant who asked to be kept off the record. I asked him what he would do with $100 Million…

“A hundred million? We’d use it to knock Starbucks the *&^% out! Yeah! We’re tired of that punk chain hanging around. Don’t they know who we are? We are Mac-Don-Olds! MacD. Or Big Mac, to our friends. And that Starbucks been runnin things for too long. I thougAwright man, so here’s the story. Starbucks been cornerin the coffee business for a while now, you know? And for us, that was too long. They lost their focus. Got sloppy. Opened too many stores. Charged too much. People got tired of goin there, ya know? So, other shops started hanging out on their turf, right? Dunkin’ Donuts. 7-11. Caribou. They all make a pretty mean brew. And, you know what? A dude don’t have to wait in line for no 20 minutes at those other places, or use fancy terms that don’t make no sense! A grande means small! What? All them other places produce quality product…and it’s all about gettin’ caffeine into the blood, right? Mmm. I can feel it now.ht we had ‘em a couple months back, but they hung on like a booger. But we got the credibility, ya know?

We were just watchin, you know, playin’ it safe for a while, but then we got tired of those little coffee-bangers running around…this is our turf. They was ruining da whole coffee business! We are Mac-Don-Olds. King of all these streets! Why not let the real King take over? We brought in all the heads, the bosses, and met out at Hamburger U. It was decided to sock it to ‘em! Free Coffee Mondays. Everywhere. Give it away, earn their trust, then sell it, sell it, sell it! All the way to the bank.

(KFC tried to do it with chicken… Chicken? Who wants to walk around with a chicken breast in their hand!? Man, give ‘em a Coke! But not a hunk of chicken!)

Anyway, Starbucks started runnin’ around, not sure which way they was goin’…sending out crazy messages that they weren’t “special,”  just a regular cup of Joe. What regular coffee costs $4? Well, they cut their own brand apart, right out from underneath their own-selves. Punks! But, they still here. So, now we gonna finish it, And, after we’re done with Starbucks, we goin’ after that creepy-King-looking %*&!)$&@#+)$ that plays with sponges…”

And there you have it…McDonalds once again to make the streets a virtual coffee war zone. AdAge printed a story this morning, speaking with Neil Golden:

“I assure you that we’re going to be surrounding the consumer with very relevant messaging,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer, McDonald’s USA. He said the initial ads “will pulse on and off very strongly through the summer, with sustained weight well into 2010.” 

The fast-food chain won’t state how much they’re going to spend overall, but the goal is to add $100 billion to the bottom line in 2009. With McDonalds on the prowl again, the other competitors are circling the wagons for the upcoming battle.

Starbucks, after directionless floundering a month ago, finally responded by running full-page newspaper ads designed to tell their story and to warn consumers not to “trade down.” This marks the first branding campaign of any weight in years, and comes six months after  Wieden & Kennedy quit the account, citing that Starbucks did not seem receptive to driving the brand forward.

One  has to wonder at the recent choices made by Starbucks, and their new agency, BBDO. They’ve closed 600 stores, cut  1000 jobs, and sent out conflicting messages that stated “we are like everyone else” but “we are still the premium  choice.” To top it off, they choose newspaper, a medium that is failing in its own right, to deliver their messaging?

 Time will tell if Starbucks is able to survive in the long-term, but one thing is certain: McDonalds is coming. Again.

 Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is  writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from  you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Starbucks follows a certain protocol for customers as far as serving their drinks. Ideally the protocol is as follows:

• Order Your Drink
• Pay for your Drink
• Get the Receipt
• Wait for your Drink to be done

Now along that line comes the need for a receipt. It is normally issued after you pay for your order. Normally, these receipts were not given much attention but apparently today, you need to keep it before you get your drink.

A new policy at the UT’s Starbucks locations is requiring customers to show their receipts in order to get their drinks.

Mary Leslie Patterson, marketing director of University of Tennessee campus dining, said the new policy was implemented at campus Starbucks locations in early February. Starbucks employees were noticing that some customers weren’t getting the drinks they ordered because someone else took them.

(Source) Tennesse Journalists