Fast food gets even faster: would you like wifi with that?McDonald’s has just announced it’s rolling out free wifi across its US stores (even though it’s been available in Australia for months). Will wifi help Maccas take a gulp from the Starbucks cup, or does the dollar menu not make it worth the cost?
Starbucks
The Starbucks story: when franchising goes wrong
So your business model involves saturating a market, high-rent locations and bougie products aimed at rich hip young things. What do you get? The conditions for the perfect shitstorm if demand and the dollar collapse.
Starbucks goes instant
In the recession-racked US, knocking back $5 Venti Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappuccinos isn’t as popular as it once was. So Starbucks is now entering a more GFC-friendly market: instant coffee. One problem: it’s awful.
Starbucks brews cheap crowdsourced
campaign
To promote its new instant coffee brand — they call it “ready brew” — Starbucks is using customers’ photos. You could call it product marketing by social media, or you could just call it cheap, says Sarah Gilbert.
Why Starbucks’ faux-independent stores will fail
Starbucks’ attempts to rebrand (or rather “unbrand”) some of their stores in the style of a local coffee shop are doomed for failure, says Peter Merholz: consumers will smell the dishonesty through the vanilla chai mocha venti latte fumes in a heartbeat.
Starbucks’ new marketing strategy: pretending not to be Starbucks
Starbucks are renaming and redesigning some of their stores to look like local, independent coffee stores. Meanwhile, they’ve pissed off real local, independent coffee stores by sending in scouts to snoop around and “research” how they work.
Upsides to the recession: Crocs, Hummers and the Atkins diet go down
Thanks to the GFC, unemployment, poverty and homelessness are on the rise, companies are tanking, and the markets are in a mess — but there’s always some silver lining: New Kids on the Block had to cancel their tour.
Feels like schadenfreude: Where Starbucks went wrong
Starbucks is struggling in Australia because it deserves to struggle, writes retail commentator Rob Lake.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government, Richard Farmer writes.
Saving Signaller McCarthy: have helicopter, won’t travel
Despite the presence of a helicopter at Tarin Kowt, sources have said transport was dispatched from Kandahar an hour to the south, writes Bernard Keane.
Crikey Says: Crikey says
The latte set can clink its heritage Nation Review Leunig mugs in clear and suddenly ebullient conscience today
Briefly Business: Starbucks, Goliath vs Goliath, Garbage Gas
Financial inflation part of the problem … Fighting for Starbucks … Goliath vs Goliath … Gassing up with garbage.
