Viva la VIA! (part deux) September 29, 2009
Posted by irish.lemon in communications, starbucks.Tags: chicago, starbucks, starbucks via ready brew
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Alright, I’m back and ready to gripe.
As most of the self-absorbed snob-culture noticed back in March, Starbucks launched their new instant sensation, Starbucks VIA Instant ReadyBrew – pardon me if my semantic organization is a bit off.
I was fairly enthused about the prospect from a sales standpoint when it launched here in Chicago. It was fairly innovative and effectively marketed, although as someone who uses Metra and CTA daily, I’ve yet to notice a single VIA travel mug or anyone busting open VIA packets at all on either train. Overall, sales within my district were good, as a matter of fact, the reception of VIA was well-absorbed by customers nationwide through the magic of online shopping.
Fast-forward to mid-September and VIA has obviously lost some of its luster. Maybe because Starbucks only offers the product in Italian Roast and Columbian. Maybe because it isn’t offered in decaf like Nescafe’s new instant ready-brew. Whatever the reason, you would expect corporate to develop the VIA brand before re-launching it. Clearly, this didn’t seem to be considered.
My boyfriend dressed for the VIA re-launch.
Today, Starbucks is holding the nationwide launch of VIA, which is all fine and good on it’s own. However, store sales expectations are somewhat ridiculous and the strategy is misguided. Although cute and a nice break from the norm, partners are required today to dress as their ideal representation of someone who would benefit from VIA. Now from a partner perspective, yes, the idea of dressing up is fun, however, as someone studying PR and brand image, etc, I don’t see this as an effective strategy to boost sales. Chicago has been oversaturated with VIA and its competitors since March and it’s going to be difficult to boost sales with tastings and costume parties in Starbucks stores that have been on the VIA train since it debuted.
Then again, what do I know? Those of us at store-level are the only ones that will directly take the brunt of customer (dis)satisfaction if there is any to be had. I get to avoid the costume party, but we’ll see how the Taste Challenge Weekend pans out.
To be continued..
viva la VIA..! March 2, 2009
Posted by irish.lemon in Uncategorized.Tags: chicago, cod, college of dupage, howard schultz, instant coffee, marketing, nloth, no line on the horizon, starbucks, starbucks via, starbucks via ready brew, u2, via
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Well, tonight is just an eve of excitement now isn’t it? I’m supposed to technically keep my mouth shut about a particular event that happened today…at least until tomorrow. I promised my boss I wouldn’t blog or tweet about it until after the fact, so I’ll keep my word as intended, but expect more tomorrow.
already satirizing our sweet VIA display
In other news, VIVA LA VIA! Yeah, I said it. I helped to a very minor degree on our store set for tomorrow’s launch of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew instant coffee. I honestly hate to admit, Howie was right, it’s relatively delicious. Generally speaking, instant coffee is absolutely awful, unless you get the good stuff from Europa; considering we’re Americans, we have little to no concept of how to properly enjoy coffee. At any rate, the convenience and surprisingly palatable flavor of VIA has led me to keep my mouth shut and my criticisms to a bare minimum…it’s good stuff, and I’m quite thrilled to have Chicago as one of only three test markets for the product, with Seattle and London being the only others.
Also, I got my hot little hands on the new U2 album; no worries to my
happiness is new U2
managers who read this blog, I promise you I did NOT take a copy tonight. Besides, we’re not selling the $100 deluxe version, so no worries there…just took shameless photos of myself practically eating the packaging. I’ve got a bit of a rebuttal to make against the New York Times regarding the loss of U2’s relevance in the world. Look for that tomorrow or Wednesday. I was, however, very pleased to see that $1 from the sale of each copy of “No Line On the Horizon” would be donated to the Global Fund. Not an incredibly huge donation, but pending the response from customers, it could lead to something.
Enough Starbucks news, I’ve got some sad personal affairs that I’d very much like to address for the sake of my distress and discontent and the illusion that my posts are actively read by the world. As I may have mentioned not too long ago, I received the CEIA National Two-Year Student Internship Award. The award presentation is going to be – as it always is – at CEIA’s National Conference, which happens to be in Portland, OR this year. Originally, I was supposed to attend the event. Obviously, the economy keeps spiraling further into the abysmal depths of depression, there was the slim chance I wouldn’t be able to attend.
karole, casey, and myself in the ad the CEIP dept. took out in the feb. 20 edition of the courier
Well, that slim chance became far more likely when I went for the SFE Award as presented by COD. Today, I got a very apologetic email from the Co-op director. In very few words, she regretfully announced to me that the school wouldn’t cover the expenses to send me to Portland even for a day to just fly in, accept my award, and go home. Now to me, there’s something incredibly wrong with this.
I understand the slump we’re all in, but when the institution boasts about the amount of awards its students receive, how much attendance is up, and all the grants and scholarships that are being given out to students, departments, and just to the institution itself, I begin to wonder what the real reason is. So, instead of accepting my award in person, I have to wait until May to attend the Board of Trustees meeting and accept it there, where I know no one, no one knows me, and where all relevance will have been stripped from the original significance.
I’m incredibly disappointed, but I’m still the national winner in my category, however, by matters of principle, I’m very surprised that this was the road the institution preferred to travel. Again, I’m not ungrateful, just surprised, but what can you do? My Manifest Destiny’s just gonna have to wait. Besides, the Co-op department took out that nifty ad in the Feb. 20 issue of the Courier, so I can’t gripe too much.
At any rate, it’s been an interesting day. This week’s going to be absolutely insane with PRSSA elections coming up fast, four papers and a speech due by Thursday as well as my obligation to play my horn for a Taize prayer service at St. Vincent DePaul, I’m guaranteed to be a ball of nerves. Spring break, get here a bit faster please…
minor update… February 15, 2009
Posted by irish.lemon in Uncategorized.Tags: college of dupage, depaul, hsp, humanitarian service project, prssa, public relations, starbucks
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alright, i’ve got a little over an hour of actual free-time for once, however, i won’t address any issues in too short a time. just making it known that i’ve almost fallen off the face of the earth, though not entirely…
if i recall, the last thing i mentioned was president obama’s status as a brand…since then, i’ve been incredibly swamped with matters concerning school, both academic and administrative; i won’t get into the latter just yet considering it makes my blood boil as of late. when the ice is a bit thicker around next week then i’ll divulge openly.
on the plus side, i received two awards for my internship at HSP, one from college of dupage and – drumroll please – i did indeed receive the “national two-year intern” award from CEIA. i’m thrilled about both, but i’ve made it a point to reiterate that i’m not sure what was so fantastic and deserving that i did during my time at HSP, but i appreciate the recognition nonetheless. was glad to see the executive director for HOPE fair housing talking to karole at the awards reception last wednesday; hopefully something mutually beneficial comes out of that potential relationship…gotta love my new line of work 
. it’ll be interesting to see if a partnership of some kind develops there.
it was far more rewarding to see casey receive the award for “outstanding faculty adviser”. he deserves it more than anyone and i’m glad – even though i’m sure he’d much rather be left unknown – to have seen him recognized for the dedication he has to his students.
in other news, yes…i still have a job and my store is still open. we’ve actually been grossing profits quite nicely, but we’re inevitably victims of the labor cuts and all the other procedural nonsense that’s got a chokehold on the company. i find myself playing a wicked game of devil’s advocate that’s become quite exhausting as of late. all i really care about is that i have a job to go to everyday, money in the bank, and have the occasional opportunity to do work in the community – as well as the freelance PR – for the “make your mark” volunteer events we host each season. that’s all that keeps me going and keeps me from constantly thinking the worst.
the depaul/valpo PRSSA “taste of chicago PR” conference is finally this week! i’m happy to say we’re overbooked, so it’s should be a blast. i’m looking forward to doing some hardcore networking; it’d be awesome if this yielded some agency opportunities. honestly, i’m just geeked about spending an entire day with a bunch of PR professionals…kid in a candy store’s all i’m gonna say.
i’ll have rolling updates about all this stuff since it’s become increasingly relevant in the past few months. lots of juicy stuff about to happen toward the end of february into march. looking forward to it…
plz refer to 1-800-STARBUC… December 13, 2008
Posted by irish.lemon in starbucks.Tags: howard schultz, starbucks, starbucks gossip
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so maybe i’m obsessed with my job, the company itself, or just the corruption of my mind since i’ve been a PR major…either way, i see a unique challenge coming, and i want to snatch it up faster than you can say– well, i won’t use a ridiculous example from work ‘cos that would essentially prove my devotion to my industrial espresso machine.
i admit, i have an addiction to starbucks blogs for the sake that they show me i’m not the only outwardly, overly critical partner out there…there are many others. i ran across a comment on starbucks gossip regarding a letter a partner wrote to his/her customers. it wasn’t a letter of sympathy, only empathy for the tightening of the starbucks belts among the underlings of the company…the store partners.
everyone’s afraid to blink let alone breathe for the simple fact that everyday at work might be our last. it’s only been four days since howie’s interview on CBS and only a week or so since we found out labor was going to be cut by almost half. just upon personal observation, our once naturally playful and efficient staff seems to have become quite the opposite in little less than a week…i’m no exception. we still treat our customers as we always have, but privately amongst ourselves, you could cut the anxiety in the air with a machete. so, in my perusals, i stumbled across this letter i mentioned, and this is the comment that immediately caught my eye:
schultz and his brand… December 10, 2008
Posted by irish.lemon in communications, starbucks.Tags: cbs, communications, howard schultz, interview, katie couric, news, public relations, starbucks
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maybe it’s the stress finally getting to me, maybe it’s the possible corporate visit tomorrow, or maybe i’m just not as confident as i once was in the company. i missed it monday night, but i managed to get a hold of the howard schultz interview with katie couric. ironically, i had a similar reaction to the interview that a tv analyst had as well…why did this interview happen in the first place? upon watching it myself, i can say it was likely filmed to provide reassurance among shareholders and possibly employees on the store level. however, far too much jargon regarding brand meaning. there are things howard presented well, and things that could’ve been toned down. given my views of corporate governance in accordance with social responsibility, i think he beat the horse a bit too much. strategically placing a barista in a (red) apron at the door acting as an usher didn’t help the message from being blatantly obvious.
however, kudos for taking on accountability! howard, you get a gold star on that one. not necessarily admitting guilt, however, accepting the consequences of previous decisions and where the company will move from here. nice handling of the dunkin donuts question as well. i’m still not too optimistic in terms of financial stability of the company and was surprised to hear him say that overall “trust” in the starbucks brand is at 86%…i haven’t seen that in my store at all. everyday, there’s at least five or so customers – both regulars and new faces – that beg the question, “is this store closing too? you seem to be doing well, why are other stores closing?” etc…
i’m not entirely sure how i feel about the interview as a whole, aside from i believe it was pitched by starbucks to cbs…not entirely a negative thing, however, i’ve yet to see such high-profile corporate interviews yield any promise in the coming fiscal years. ironically, what’s meant to reassure generally seems to plant more seeds of doubt.
considering i have a direct stake in this, i’m incredibly concerned…
giving tree recap… December 10, 2008
Posted by irish.lemon in starbucks.Tags: christmas, giving treee, humanitarian service project, starbucks
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the final trimmings!
in all the noise today brought i forgot to mention the wrap-up of the giving tree our store had. as i said during the process, i was in shock at the generosity of our customers. in two weeks, we were able to get names, put up a tree, spread the word not only for our own charity but got people talking about HSP as an organization, and successfully fulfilled and exceeded my own personal expectations of the event. once again considering the economic climate and the fate of everyone’s jobs, it was refreshing to see people still giving a damn about two kids they’ll probably never meet in their own community.
next, well, we don’t exactly know what’s next. this christmas season’s gonna be tight for us at work now too. as i said earlier, starting to get a little unsettling thinking we might all be looking for jobs soon. i knew it’d happen eventually, just didn’t think it’d potentially be so soon. the pessimist that i am, i’m sure i’m jumping the gun which is why i fail to elaborate beyond speculation. if given reason however…well, that’s another animal altogether.
visions (red)efined… November 29, 2008
Posted by irish.lemon in starbucks.Tags: (red), charity, christmas, co-branding, communications, giving tree, holidays, humanitarian service project, product (red), public relations, social media, starbucks, v2v
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i’ll say it now, that i’m so willing to be a whore for starbucks so long as bono approves it. i know contradict myself somewhere therein as a result. if you haven’t yet noticed because you live under a rock or are simply unfamiliar with product (red), starbucks has teamed up to form yet another co-branded force to be reckoned with. as in the footsteps of gap, dell, apple, and a few others, starbucks has trademarked three holiday drinks and co-branded to the extreme. today was “(red) friday” instead of “black friday” to those of you familiar with the idiocy of the american consumer on the day after thanksgiving. at any rate, i hate admitting that i disagree with naomi klein on this issue of the co-branded world. yes, capitalism is king, and how much of the $.05 actually goes to the purchasing of pharmaceuticals could indeed be argued vigorously, but given that i’m no investgative reporter, nor working [yet] at starbucks corporate in marketing, i have to take the endeavor at face value.
it’s an absolutely brilliant move; timely and tugging at the heartstrings of the selfish and jaded american
consumer, to remember – hopefully – to do at least one good deed this season by buying one of the uber-branded drinks we offer in a partnership with quite possibly the largest charity brand since the red cross. have i said “brand” enough yet? i want to get that through to all of you. this is huge, whether or not you recognize it. not only huge in the sense of the money and marketing involved, but of the enormously huge corporate responsibility attached to it for both mega-brands. i’ll not get into the contradictions of that argument, because for once, i’m not being as pessimistic as usual, but i guarantee that post is soon to come. right now, i’m satisfied chilling and slinging drinks in my trendy (red) apron and giddy that such a hideously contradictory practice is in place for the holidays; i’m hoping for limited ulterior motive.
another thing that has starbucks tugging at my own heartstrings…SOCIAL MEDIA! yep, it’s official, starbucks has broken the barrier of social networking! not sure yet how i feel about it, aside from the fact that it needs much, much, MUCH more development, i’m not sure how comfortable i am with customers searching for me via “V2V” as it’s called. still, i can’t help giving it a chance in hopes of someday being one of the people continually developing it.
my "giving tree" flyer (click to enlarge)
the giving tree (click to enlarge)
finally on my tardy list of holiday newsworthiness – concerning starbucks that is – my store’s “make you mark” teamed up with humanitarian service project. nice to indirectly help them out through customer charity. definitely didn’t expect it to be as successful as it’s proved to be so far. feels good…makes me feel like i’ve got a good handle on cutting my teeth in PR lately. my next big project – aside from the PRSSA conference in february and the american lung association “climb chicago” – is a local 5k or something of the sort in march. i’m in no way gloating for once, but i’m proud of myself with the giving tree; i wasn’t optimistic at all and the response has been so positive that i hope i can keep on plugging away for HSP even though i’m not an intern anymore. so, how busy am i that i still think of writing a stupid story about the past year at starbucks? given that i’m on break until the new year, i think i’m just going to have to crack and give in to writing again for pleasure rather than obligations. i’ve been worrying everyone in my complete lack of blogging and inability to concentrate effectively on my writing. surprisingly, i found i do have a limit for writing, and it hadn’t occurred to me until it was recently pointed out by my best friend. but i’m back, and i’ll be annoying everyone in the blogosphere even more as the break crawls on and i suffer more cabin fever when the first blizzard hits. so here i close for the night considering i have to be up again in four hours to open the store. i leave you with this:
(do something good everyday)
there is NO WAY that a manager can use 2 hours of non coverage time to fully operate a 40K store open 24 hours a day. you are either a liar, naive or your manager works off the clock. the latter is what is probably happening. and no, i’m no spoiled SM. i work hard. i plan. i LOVE my actual job but who are we stepping up for? i, for one, am stepping up for my partners and my customers. I AM NOT STEPPING UP FOR SOMEONE IN AN OFFICE AT THE SSC SO THEIR BOTTOM LINE LOOKS BETTER AND THE EXECS CAN CONTINUE TO MAKE MORE IN WEEK THAN I DO IN A YEAR.
i work harder for my team. my store. myself. and, i appreciate having a job. i don’t think starbucks is bad. their a business and they have to run it accordingly. tough times right now and i realize this. i just think they are clueless as to what actually goes into running a store at the store level. the amount of crap that comes out of their press-release-oriented mouths is sickening. call a spade a spade so to speak…and i think everyone would be much more at ease with all of this. their communication and planning is horrid.
Posted by: tiredSM | December 11, 2008 at 10:11 PM