20 May, 2009
Retell the Story
New Starbucks Ads Seek to Recruit Online Fans
In a new ad campaign, Starbucks wants to tell its message to a new generation of coffee drinkers and then recruit them to retell the story online.
The coffeehouse chain is putting up new advertising posters in six major cities. To further spread its message, it is trying to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging people to hunt for the posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter.
The outdoor ads boil Starbucks’ message down to headlines, some of them veiled jabs at competitors: “If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks.”
The marketing campaign, which started this month in newspapers and magazines, is described by the company, which generally avoids traditional advertising, as the biggest marketing effort it has undertaken.
The Starbucks campaign goes up against a major advertising blitz by McDonald’s promoting its new line of McCafé coffee drinks. McDonald’s is reportedly spending more than $100 million on television, print, radio, billboard and Web ads that show people’s bland work days full of commutes and cubicles being improved with a whipped cream-covered McCafé drink. The promotion is the biggest product introduction for McDonald’s since it started serving breakfast in the 1970s, the company said.
The competition, said Terry Davenport, chief marketing officer at Starbucks, “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.”
He added, “We just don’t believe that to be true. That’s why we wanted to tell our stories.”
story & photo courtesy of - http://www.nytimes.com/
"and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."
What does today's God's Story scripture teach us about retelling the story?
What story is Starbucks asking it's customers to retell? Perhaps it's a story about the flavor of their coffee, the atmosphere in their shops, or how their baked goods no longer contain trans fats. Maybe it's even a heartwarming story about their bottled water, which helps raise funds for those around the world lacking clean water. While there are plenty of "good" stories that could be told about Starbucks, if we're honest, at the root of every story is the reality that because Starbucks is a business, there primary objective, their lifeblood, the reason for their existence, is to create profit, to make money. However there are some stories more profound, stories so important people have rejoiced that they have been lucky enough to suffer for them, stories where the objective is to create love and salvation, not dollar bills. Not sure how many people will be signing up to suffer for their latte any time soon, but history has proven time and again that followers of Jesus are more than willing to suffer for the sake of God's son and God's story.
The question today is - what stories are we telling? What stories are we telling with our time and energy, with our wealth and resources, with our choices and behaviors, what stories do we reflect with our lives.
The apostles told the story of Jesus with their words and actions, if you know about Jesus it's probably because of their sacrifices for the sake of the story. We are called to continue the storytelling, to continue sacrificing for the sake of God's story. We are to retell the stories that matter most, stories more about justice, mercy, love, and forgiveness, than mocha, caramel, and espresso.
- Spend some time re-reading a favorite story from the Bible and look for something new.
- Look for an opportunity to retell your story to a friend today.
- Talk with your friend about one of your favorite stories.
- Ask a friend to tell you what their story is all about.
- March 2010 [9]
- February 2010 [19]
- January 2010 [22]
- December 2009 [22]
- November 2009 [21]
- October 2009 [22]
- September 2009 [21]
- August 2009 [20]
- July 2009 [21]
- June 2009 [22]
- May 2009 [18]
- April 2009 [15]
- March 2009 [7]
- February 2009 [17]
- January 2009 [20]
- December 2008 [23]
- November 2008 [19]
- October 2008 [22]
- September 2008 [22]
- August 2008 [19]
- July 2008 [22]
- June 2008 [11]
- May 2008 [20]
- April 2008 [22]
- March 2008 [21]
- February 2008 [18]
- January 2008 [20]
- December 2007 [18]
- November 2007 [15]
- October 2007 [19]
- September 2007 [18]
- August 2007 [12]
- July 2007 [12]
- June 2007 [9]
- May 2007 [11]
- April 2007 [10]
- March 2007 [11]
- February 2007 [14]
- January 2007 [7]
- December 2006 [4]
- November 2006 [13]
- October 2006 [17]
- September 2006 [11]
- August 2006 [16]
- July 2006 [10]
- June 2006 [3]
