“If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks.”
In the article Terry Davenport, chief marketing officer at Starbucks, is quoted as saying..
“[Competition] is trying to just commoditize coffee and take it down to a level where all coffee’s the same, and if coffee’s coffee, you might as well buy the cheap stuff. … We just don’t believe that to be true. That’s why we wanted to tell our stories.”
See more of what Starbuck’s is saying and the ads on their blog.
So, what is the story? At Starbuck’s, we make a mistake once but never twice?
I am disappointed that the message for the ads has to be driven by negative undertones. I understand they hope to drive social media to help by employing a Twitter promotion contest. And negative news is good news, but for an iconic brand who defined a category for so long to not see a positive message to push is concerning.
If you want a story, talk about heritage or the fair trade efforts that you have helped to implement for farmers or even the premium ingredients. This type of story is real and authentic vs. “just don’t buy the other guy’s stuff”.
This is the sixth in a series of short posts related to The CMO Agenda research. Informed by recent CMO conversations and CMG Partners‘ collective experience helping top marketers develop marketing strategy, we have compiled a list of seven ideas or jump starters for further conversation. These are meant to spark discussion, ideas, and action as we all enter a difficult 2009.
Whether developing new products or looking to increase loyalty, having a continuous stream of customer insight that draws on many different sources is important. This feed needs to be constant and plentiful. Technology is making it easier to find new ways to gather and make use of customer insight with limited resources.
Customer research and voice of the customer programs like councils and feedback meetings are the more traditional ones many marketers employ. Marketing organizations should not forget the many simple everyday ways to accomplish this via tools like email, google alerts, RSS feeds, Twitter or talking with the services or sales representatives. The important thing is to make it an integral part of your day / week.
What can happen if you are not watching/listening?
Many should not forget the Motrin campaign that had so much twitter backlash over a weekend after the launch of a new “hip” mommy ad that the parent campaign pulled the ad. Don’t let this happen to you! Ensure your insight and listening post are capturing as much feedback as possible.
An example of a company doing this well is Dell with their IdeaStorm.com, where users generate ideas for new features or often irritating sales and marketing practices or service policies. The community can then vote on them which helps Dell focus and prioritize.
This is the fourth in a series of short posts related to The CMO Agenda research. Informed by recent CMO conversations and CMG Partners‘ collective experience helping top marketers develop marketing strategy, we have compiled a list of seven ideas or jump starters for further conversation. These are meant to spark discussion, ideas, and action as we all enter a difficult 2009.
The transparency and accountability of brands is increasing as new uses of the Internet drive the democratization of voice — shifting knowledge and control from marketers to consumers. This trend is forcing marketers to adopt non-traditional methods of brand management to ensure the brand is consistent not only in communications but through all customer touch points. As one CMO put it, “everything we do communicates.”
If you beleive that the true definition of a brand lies with the perceptions of consumers not with the marketing leaders, then the extreme brand management practice would be for consumers to drive the expression of the brand. Well maybe not, but this is exactly what the maker of Skittles has done (knowingly or unknowingly).
In March, Skittles re-launched their website, which used social media tools for content: Twitter for “Chatter”, Facebook for “Friends”, Wikipedia for “product information” and YouTube for “Media”. This was heralded by some and refuted as a circus trick by others (see a previous post for my take). Unfortunately, I have not been able to find information on the performance of the campaign.
This example, whether good or bad, does provide a new theory for brand managers and bring to reality the old phrase “a brand is what others say about you, not what you say about yourself.” How will you begin to renew your brand management practices to align with consumer voice?
The maker of Skittles, Mars Snackfood, is turning over the brand to consumers. The new website design at skittles.com, designed by Agency.com, is linked to social media content as its website content. The site includes wikipedia for product information, twitter comments on the home page as news and “chatter”, YouTube channel for video and Facebook to see Skittle friends.
This is a very innovative idea and I give a lot of credit to the courage of the brand managers at Mars Snackfood. Not many corporations would try something like this and I think this point is lost in the blog and twitter chatter of pros and cons.
More importantly, this is a great experiment on turning the keys over on your brand. I would say that Skittles is a fairly one-dimensional product that makes it easier to experiment than say a company like IBM.
The Bottom Line:
Short-term this is a stunt that has and will continue to get a lot of press, giving a renewed voice to one small brand in a crowded category. Success.
Long-term, less sure how this will play out, but I value the experimentation and courage displayed by the marketing team and agencies. Transparency and control are very sensitive topics for marketers and corporations to address head on and Skittles (a little brand that could) is leading here. The lesson for marketers is to watch, listen, and learn from this live experiment happening before us.
With a little help from The Wall Street Journal article, I happened to stumble upon the video below in support of the 9th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Paris, France. Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy activist, has spent about over a decade under house arrest in Myanmar. She is now the star of a public-service announcement that doubles as an ad for Fiat‘s Lancia Delta car.
Why is this a good sponsorship?
It is organic in its execution of the creative – arriving laureates have to be in cars)
It is “good” – who could argue with the position of freedom?
Activated in a social way through the interactive website sendyourpeacemessage.org that allows people to send along this message and build a virtual map of support
This message has longevity, unlike sponsorships over other 1 time events, this message and advocacy can continue on long passed the event – until the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Could they have done more… Yes, but we always can — right!
Happy New Year to all! I have taken an extended leave from the blog, but am anxious to get going again.
With the new year comes lots and lots of predictions across every subject you can imagine. This year is destined to be tough for marketers as the economy most likely has a very slow recovery and consumers are ever so cautious. Because of this trend I doubt we will see much exciting happen in the form of new revolutionary ideas, at least from the big companies. Incrementalism will reign this year!
I do see three broad trends that have started to take shape and most likely are here for the foreseeable future and likely define the areas of innovation and creativity in 2009.
Micro and the resurgence of niche: This is all about the long tail and those small players that can carve out profitable niches be being different. Small players will thrive if they can crack the code on the next two trends.
Experience and engagement: As the old way of “push” marketing continues to degrade and turn off consumers, two-way communication and create a dialogue with your audience will be a necessity. I think this year the best of the best in this category will go way beyond social media tools to achieve this and actually provide Ritz Carlton type of personal service.
Consumers have more power: Customers are more educated that in the past and can now see through the veneer of differentiation whether on the cereal aisle or in large capital expenditures. What is key is for marketers and sales people to change the way they market and sell to ensure this trend is respected, understood. If it is ignored, cusotmers will not treat you kindly!
Reading “A New Odd Couple: Google, P&G Swap Workers to Spur Innovation” on WSJ.com and attending the Internet Summit 08, there is a new shift in traditional marketing thinking. The old school of thoughts was that a marketer was the beacon or held the megaphone to tout the message to the silent masses. While this still happens in some mediums (e.g. TV), it is no longer a one-way street entirely. Via social networks, blogs, microblogging (e.g. twitter), and mobile communications, consumers have the chance to talk back and in some cases unite for the benefit or detriment of a company, brand, product or service. One recent example for consideration is the Motrin Mom campaign.
I think this trend is interesting, but it is not a new concept! It is human nature to tell others about good and bad experiences and to help those we know whether it is find a plumber or buy detergent. What is new are that tools and technology have “democratized influence”, as Tim Schigel, CEO of ShareThis, stated at the Internet Summit 08. It is now easier and more efficient to spread word-of-mouth and people are now using these tools as their source for information in purchase decisions whether online of offline.
Correlations to local taxes, child well-being. Check out the the map in the report, will the presidential politics wil…http://t.co/gV7pNQ0n 2 weeks ago
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