BarbaraLippert of Adweek likes the new Starbucks spots from Wieden + Kennedy. "Ski Lift" is abstract, but still warm. It features cool, switched-on music ("I Love NYE," by Badly Drawn Boy) and even offers a little breather when it comes on, like staring inside a snow globe, or, um, taking a coffee break in a cozy, welcoming café. Given that Caribou Coffee is a Starbucks competitor in several states, I find this …
Good Google
Google is an exciting company. Every week the geeks are up to something something new and good. This week in Google, the search and advertising giant announced it will enter the sustainable energy market and make a bid for wireless spectrum, opening a path to the gPhone and a new, more open (and internet-like) consumer option in mobile. Ad Age has the mobile story: Google will enter an upcoming auction for a wireless …
McMochas To Stir Up Coffee Crowd
McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday it plans to move full-scale into the specialty coffee market, serving up mochas and cappuccinos that it claims will rival those made by coffeehouses. The hamburger giant also said it plans to roll out smoothies, frappes and iced tea, all efforts to cash in on the premium beverage business. McDonald's has been testing specialty coffees in about 800 restaurants this year, and it now plans …
Weaning One From Starbucks
E.T. Likes Fried Chicken
I like a commerical that leaves room for interpretation. The above spot for Bojangles does just that. For what might it mean to take southern fired chicken away from those who would hold the highest office in the land? Does it mean our President should dine on grilled chicken, not fried chicken? Or is it a populist sentiment of some sort--a subtle way of saying Bojangles is for common folk, not suit-wearing promise …
TV Spending Fails To Address The Truth About The Product
Consumers are trending toward craft beers and the nation's laregst brewer (who doesn't make craft beers) is going to spend more money on TV in order to "educate" consumers about their brewing process, ingredient sourcing and history. In other words, A-B will try to sway beer drinkers from Sam Adams and the like to Michelob by using Sam Adams' marketing strategy. The St. Louis brewer devised the new strategy after …
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Dan Wieden Talks Howard Schultz Into Running National TV
"By its very nature, national advertising fuels fears about ubiquity," Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO said over a decade ago. With Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds competing for his customers, Mr. Schultz is singing a new tune. One he learned from Dan Wieden. "We need to recognize that the category is evolving," Mr. Schultz told analysts on a conference call Thursday. "And as the leader, we have an opportunity to make sure …
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Newspaper Success Put Up In Lights
The Return of the Flying Pigs, "a story only the Philadelphia Inquirer could tell," is now showing in the City of Brotherly Love. It's a tale of an ad man transformed into a newspaper man, and making a go of it against a strong tide pulling papers out to sea. “The industry needs to proudly assert itself and talk about its strengths,” Brian P. Tierney, chief executive of Philadelphia Media Holdings said, and it …
