Starbuck's answer to McCafe: messaging disaster?

July 6, 2009 by AlanHart

: Image via Wikipedia

In a New York Times article today, Starbuck's answer to McDonald's McCafé $100 million dollar blitz is:

“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”.

Comments welcome!

Tagged: advertising, Chief marketing officer, Fair trade, McCafé, McDonalds, messaging, social media, Social media marketing, Starbuck's, Terry Davenport, The New York Times Company, twitter

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TwoDegrees said:

I agree with your post in terms of taking your brand for a roll around in the mud with your your competitors and posted on my blog Is Dunkin' Donuts Tasteless? a while back about DD's repeated attempts with this kind of marketing in the coffee wars.

Here's the post ...

Is Dunkin' Donuts Tasteless?

I'm not referring to their coffee, but to the latest shot across the bow in their anti-Starbucks marketing campaign.

Taste comparisons against Starbucks are one thing, no pun intented this time, but this t-shirt I saw being sold at a local Dunkin' Donuts really made them look like a petty second-place competitor. If they were trying to look hip, I think they certainly fell short.

As far as their Starbucks taste comparison was concerned, I really didn't think that any Starbucks drinkers were swayed by the statistics they presented that more people preferred Dunkin' Donuts coffee over Starbucks. They are distinctly different and if you prefer the bolder taste of Starbucks, then DD will taste watered down and a commercial isn't going to change your preference. However, if they were trying to make Dunkin' Donuts fans feel better about their choice, then perhaps the campaign made sense.

Apparently, the next step would be to deal with the fact that DD is not as hip a brand as Starbucks, and I would imagine this t-shirt is their attempt to try and change that. I just think it seems more foolish than hip.

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Mon, 2009-07-06 21:08 — Bruce Colwin

JeffreyRosenberg said:

Alan, your perspective is right on. If the problem in the coffee industry right now - the thing that was driving consumers away in droves - was an inability of coffee shops to get orders right, then maybe I could see using the few precious seconds Starbucks has to get a message across in this way. Since that doesn't even make it on the list of the top 10 problems coffee shops are having, I can't understand the rationale behind this messaging approach.