Starbucks & Nescafe - Counterproductive Nescafe Campaign?

So... Starbucks is Starbucks. Their brand is synonymous with luxury all over the world. Numerous books have been written regarding what Starbucks has done to create such strong brand equity with a commodity - my personal favorite The Starbucks Experience - regarding the brand (love it, or hate it), behind the coffee giant.

As the recession deepens, Starbucks is feeling the pain with an 8% decrease to $2.3B in the first quarter of 2009. Expenses were reduced to $120 Million while consumers become stingier with their discretionary income but still feeding their need for caffeine.

Combatting the ideas that their coffee is more expensive than it is worth, Starbucks unveiled a new campaign (part of the city wall poster seen above). CEO, Howard Schultz, discusses the Starbucks story - "It's not just coffee. It's Starbucks" here. Starbucks, Schultz asserts, will break outside of it's coffee bean shell. With the historic campaign (Starbucks is not an avid advertising company), Starbucks will focus on their overall experience, rather than the coffee itself.


Makes sense, in the middle of the recession, as consumers do not have the time, and quite frankly no one looks to brand names when they are on unsure of their job stability, to promote "Starbucks Via", a ready-brew, at a fraction of the cost, as an attempt to stay on top of the easy-to-self-make coffee drink capturing (possibly recapturing) market share lost to McCafe and cheaper coffee alternatives.

Taking a look at a concurrent coffee advertising campaign - Nescafe, on the other hand, is trying to capitalize on the Anti-Starbucks sentiment shared by numerous consumers. As a corporate conglomorate, Starbucks faces criticism for their "over-priced" coffee, labor issues, fair trade, real estate practices, et al. The Nescafe campaign, part of which can be seen in the photos above, is counterproductive.

As seen on many billboards, specifically in the Chicagoland area, their usage of "Starbucks Via" as the front runner of the text on their campaign, might be causing the opposite of their initial intent. Driving in my car, on the bus, walking my dogs, "Stabucks Via" is the first thing that I see. Capturing an audience that is mobile (as with most forms of OOH advertising), marketers and advertisers have a limited time to capture their audience. The message is completely lost amidst the Starbucks campaign itself, further fueling brand recognition for Starbucks. Arguably, "Starbucks Via" is more compelling than the Nescafe logo at the bottom of their ad.


Not the smartest move, Nescafe. The message makes sense, the Anti-Starbucks target makes sense. The media chosen is too expensive to share the platform with the competition. Nescafe is advertising for Starbucks. They are sharing their message with an organization that they are trying to combat. They are using precious marketing and advertising dollars in an economically sensitive time to further promote a brand they are advertising against...

now, it's all different - time to reinvent the business wheel ("a recession is a terrible thing to waste")

2 + 2 = 4.

That will never change. It was the same in 3000 BC as it now. Until the end of time, 2+2 will always equal 4.

Everything else, is fair game.

Law, medicine, and the only other highly regarded practices will remain with their fundamentals, but technology will change their practices. Innovation will be a continuum, but the fundamentals will always remain the same.

Business - as a society - has reached its all time low. It's 2009, we are in the greatest recession of all time. Pre-World War II, we had technology, but it never reached Ground Zero like it did during 2008-2009. And the fact of the matter, in 2009, we should have known better. We should have forecasted better. We saw the computer age before the 1929 recession saw it - we should have known something. But we didn't.

This is the time for innovation.

Business models have succeeded for years. Various business models. Pyramid schemes, corporate America, small business America, "sell a useful product, people will buy" mentality IS OVER.

Times have hit rock bottom. Digital is the wave of the future. The recession has made America weary of everything. Digital has made America immune to the messagings of the past.

It's done. Start over.

The modern day consumer is weary. He/She hates you. He/She doesn't want to be sold anything. He/She thinks that you are the corporate villain. You made this happen with your "big business" model that will trickle down to the common man.

You had no big idea. There was no palatte. There was no following. There was no traffic.

And if there was - modify it. Now.

2009- starts fresh. New minds. New ideas.

Ideas of the past, are that. Ideas of the past. And we see what they have produced. This mess.

Move past recession and depression and economic gloom and doom. Constantly change. Constantly innovate. Let the minds of the future roam.

December 2008 Riots – Mirror for the World

The violent riots that gripped Greece last December may act as a precursor of social uprisings for workers and employers globally – across party lines, age, culture, and socioeconomic background. Although the historic turbulences between Greek workers, union, and political government affiliations are very complex and deeply rooted in their respective culture and history, the global financial crisis raises the stakes for U.S. and global economies to re-examine the interdependence between government and workforce and recognize the social and volatile implications that can occur with the global economy in shambles. The recent uprising in Greece must serve as a warning for the rest of the world as everyone is currently affected...

... Ironically in a fit of unprecedented violence at the same Polytechnic University that saw the demise of the military junta in 1974, Greek labor strikes exploded with the shooting of the teenager last December. The culmination of the Greek government’s dissonance and inability to address the social and economic issues that plague the citizens exploded in 2008 to destroy the city of the ancestors of modern democracy. In the midst of social and economic downfall, the world watches in disbelief, and possibly, in disregard, “It’s tempting to dismiss this as a purely Greek affair that carries little significance to the outside world” (Kaplan 2008). Provactively, Kaplan warns, “Pay close attention to Greece; at a time of world-wide economic unheaval, it might eerily presage disturbances elsewhere in 2009.” With the United States falling into a deeper financial recession, the global economic crisis is cancerously making its way throughout the world. Issues of education, unemployment, governmental budget deficits in the billions of dollars, threatened pension funds (decreasing 401K values for us Americans) and all around uncertainty and cycnism of and for the future – we can only hope that the Greeks can teach us something else before it is too late.


*For the full article and citations, please contact me directly.

Recession, Baby.

I don't know if the news has hit the wire yet, but we're in a rece(depre)ssion. AH!
Take cover.


Slumdog Millionaire cleaned house at the Oscars for 2008. In a time where we need hope, where the news continuously reinforces the idea/fact that the economy ain't so hot, layoffs are occuring by the hundreds of thousands, every job board is offering "help" for jobseekers (they are really selling something to someone), companies are rethinking their corporate goals and evaluating everything that they spend any money on - the world fell in love with Jamal Malik, the chaiwala from Mumbai.

Slumdog, underdog, chaiwala, we rooted for Jamal to win it big. Less because we just wanted someone from the slums to be a Millionaire - but because he was transparent. He played the game by the rules, he took some calculated risks, and he deserved it.

Do the C-levels on Wall Street? Do the car companies? Does John Doe across the street getting foreclosure assistance?

Who knows (my guess is not).

For now, we have the hope from the slumdog, the chaiwala. Play by the rules and you'll get tortured - But the million is yours.

I hate to say it, but reality isn't so promising, or so rewarding.