Starbucks 2.0
I’m a coffee fanatic. Anyone that calls for recommendations on New Zealand gets the A-List. And in the top 10 is any of the hot kiwi coffee houses – AllPress, Mecca, Atomic. There are too many to name.
In the US though, it’s much more of a hit or miss affair. That’s why Starbucks remains attractive. Ok, the coffee isn’t off the charts great. But it’s so much better than the alternatives. And as a loyal customer, Howard Schultz seems to be doing a better job of getting it back into shape.
Their efforts to innovate – some of which are driven by listening to customers – occasionally get hammered. Take their new 15th Ave Coffee & Tea. Call it healthy skepticism and cynicism. Or call it brand extremism. Really.
Why cant a corporation create a unique brand experience? “There’s no way a corporate coffee chain can create an authentic neighborhood coffeehouse experience” they say. Lets see. The idea they can’t is not more limiting than suggesting you need to be small do it.
Look at what Toyota did with Lexus. BMW with the mini. McDonalds with it’s coffee houses (invented in NZ). Honda with super light jets. Anheuser Busch with micro beers.
Ok – maybe those that regard themselves as “more authentically tuned” than the rest of us common folks will be repelled by these experiments. But for the mainstream they hold the potential to offer a refreshing and exciting alternative.
Often, attempts to improve the core of a business needs to start at the edge. In a new place. They shouldn’t be viewed as a diversion. One of the great things about achieving scale is the ability to innovate and experiment in ways a single proprietor business might not. And then to take that learning and use it to inform the core.
The Sad Truth On Rugby
After watching today’s Test between Sth Africa and Australia you have to wonder about what the IRB are going to do about the game. This says everything I meant to write following the game, only better:
Test rugby has regressed to a kickfest – a contest of which team has the best kicker – and a complete guessing game about how the referee might decide to interpret the various infringements. If this is rugby’s showpiece, then we are in dire straits.
In terms of playing attractive rugby, the Boks were dreadful, and so were the Wallabies. In terms of playing percentage rugby likely to win them matches and eventually the Tri-Nations, the Boks were excellent, and the Wallabies were, again, dreadful.
Tracking News In Cyberspace
Interesting read from the NY Times on tracking news in Cyberspace. And more here.
Limiting Social Networking… Really…
You don’t “limit” social networking. What you do is limit freedom of speech.
ESPN’s very act highlights the emerging supremacy of conversations over content. They get the power of coalescing conversations. The fact they want to own where those conversations live shows a disrespect for freedom of speech. Ok, they are paying for journalists words as manifested in stories. But their conversations, personal brands… their lifestreams as well?
As disrespectful as this is to their journalists, it is equally disrespectful to their customers. I was one. In effect, ESPN wants to install a roadblock in our lifestream and fork our conversation to where they want it to take place. Rather encouraging participation in many communities, they want it to occur just in their community. Rather than meeting us in our favorite meeting places, they want us to meet at their watering hole exclusively.
The effect of this move will be to diminish the authority of their journalists by reducing their participation in the lifestream.
I’ll vote with my mouse and take my conversation elsewhere.
Happenings
- Digital Nomads shift form cubes to cafes … I’m so there….
- This I believe … Great thoughts and principles Avinash …
- No excuses… “All I do is work here…” doesn’t cut it. You are where you work. You are the brand. And if you aren’t happy with that, go somewhere else and be proud.
- Cool little Austin hotel… Kimber Modern…
- More All Black angst… unfortunately, Chris is right…. “All Black coach Graham Henry and his cohorts should be sacked. Enough is enough…. Bloemfontein was the portent, Durban the nadir. The memories from South Africa will centre on Neemia Tialata’s lumbering 20m drop out and Piri Weepu hurling the ball back to no one near his goal line. That’s if you can get past the image of Joe Rokocoko trying to run the ball into the field of play, as if he’d woken up and found himself in an NRL game.”
