Starbucks Rings in the Holidays

… With Big Social-Media Push

Get ready for Starbucks Holiday 2.0. The brand is going big in social media this year, having learned that its consumers want to participate in a variety of ways. So Starbucks is pulling back from its Thanksgiving TV buys of the past two years to focus on where its customers already spend time online and drive them into stores.

Starbucks is spreading the love around, advertising on websites from NYTimes.com to Meebo; partnering with Pandora to offer branded holiday playlists; and encouraging participation in social and owned media to get consumers in the holiday spirit. The chain is continuing its partnership with Red, launched last Thanksgiving, by offering a free “All You Need Is Love” CD, with tracks from U2, John Legend and the Dave Matthews Band, when consumers spend $15. Additionally, Starbucks will give $1 to fight AIDS in Africa. There are also a variety of holiday-themed “Red” products for which Starbucks will also make the $1 donation with a customer purchase. This represents a stepped-up version of last year’s offer, which was a five-cent donation made when consumers bought a holiday beverage such as a peppermint mocha.

Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn’t Tweet

Everyone’s Talking About It, but Should You Be Doing It?

Mainstream media has gone ga ga about Twitter, which grew more than 1,200% in the past year, doubled its members in the past few months and attained 14 million members in March, according to Compete.

Everyone and his dog seems to be tweeting, from CEOs, celebrities and not-for-profits to venture capitalists, banks, business services, government and, well, dogs (and cats and the random parakeet, too). Should your business be tweeting? Twitter is not for everyone. Here are the “Top 10 Reasons Not to Tweet.”

Stories of the Year

Plus This Year’s Follies

Detroit’s meltdown and the continuing recession have been dominating the news recently, but there were other major news stories this year, including the election of Barack Obama as president and the sale of all-American Anheuser-Busch to foreign-owned InBev.

1. BARACK OBAMA

In 2008, an African-American with Hussein as a middle name was elected president of the U.S. To think, some said he’d never make it past Hillary Clinton. And Obama didn’t just do it with inspiring speeches. He and his team did it with some pretty inspiring marketing as well. From fundraising to social networking to old-fashioned branding, Barack Hussein Obama will provide a case study for politicians and marketers alike.

2. RECESSION

Turns out the recession was already peeking over our shoulders last time the Book of Tens hit newsstands. Neither marketers nor consumers needed an official label to realize 2008 wasn’t going swimmingly. The only things that seemed to climb this year were unemployment numbers and gas prices (and even those have fallen). Sales slumped across all categories, budgets were slashed and … well, some of the bad news was so bad it merits its own entry.

3. FINANCIAL SECTOR IMPLODES

“The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” John McCain said Sept. 15. By October, he was calling this “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” What happened? The government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the rescue of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America; the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers; the bailout of mega-insurer AIG; and the biggest U.S. bank failure in history, WaMu (absorbed by Chase). Congress even authorized a $700 billion bailout pool. Crisis over? Not yet.

4. DETROIT HITS BOTTOM

We knew things weren’t going great for the Big Three, but did anyone think it would get quite this bad? Sure, Ford showed a glimmer of first-quarter hope, but high gas prices socked it to Detroit’s profit center: gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks. Add to that GM’s brand bloat, Chrysler’s management woes, a recession and a credit crush, and it’s no surprise these guys went hat in hand to Washington. The Big Three might become the Not So Big Two. Whatever happens, it’s horrible news for agencies and media alike.

5. THE MICROHOO SAGA

Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo started a month into 2008, when the Redmond-based giant launched a bid for its neighbor down the coast. As negotiations went from terse to worse, Google swooped in with a doomed search plan meant to save Yahoo; Time Warner started talks with both in an attempt to unload AOL; and regulators decided maybe they should be watching this online space more closely. Now the pair are set to close out the deal just as they started it: alone and still chasing Google.

6. ANHEUSER-BUSCH SOLD TO INBEV

Ending the independence of one of the most iconic and successful American marketing machines ever built, Belgian-Brazilian company InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion. Armchair critics bashed America’s most famous brewers for selling out to foreigners. Renowned for his zero-based budgeting, InBev CEO Carlos Brito promised the company “understands Bud” and wouldn’t gut marketing. Oh, and in other beer news, Miller and Coors formed a joint venture to take on A-B.

7. THE DEATH OF PAUL TILLEY

The apparent suicide of Paul Tilley, DDB Chicago’s managing director of creative, was a tragedy. What happened afterward was a disgrace, as attempts to blame bloggers for his death triggered what Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom called “one of the ugliest, most narcissistic displays I’ve seen from the ad industry” — which is saying a lot. He continued: “Executives, reporters and commentators parceled out blame and crazy conjecture as if it were fact and took the opportunity to talk about their own ad blogs.”

8. THE OLYMPICS

China is a big country with a lot of people. It’s also a big mystery to many — including marketers. If it seemed the entire world was watching as Beijing opened the 2008 Olympic Games, that’s because it was. China certainly didn’t disappoint when it came to spectacle. The opening ceremony was so spectacular that spectators forgave the fakery, the injury, the human-rights record. It’s not clear, though, that international marketers made any inroads with the coveted Chinese population.

9. MEDIA COMPANIES FIGURE OUT ONLINE VIDEO

Two years after YouTube had everyone panicking and throwing around expensive lawsuits, online video has become a profitable asset for NBC, News Corp. and Viacom, all of which have stakes in Hulu. They scored by streaming full-length clips and episodes of “Saturday Night Live,” “Family Guy,” “The Daily Show” and “Colbert,” occasionally at the risk of jeopardizing long-standing cable-operator relationships.

10. STARBUCKS STUMBLES

Starbucks’ year hasn’t been so much a rollercoaster as a downward spiral. Brand dilution, overexpansion and a horrific economy created a perfect storm for the once-unstoppable java giant. Starbucks has closed hundreds of stores, slashed executive positions and dialed back store openings. Same-store sales have continued to decline in the face of nationwide sampling, stepped-up marketing and advertising, discounts, and even occasional TV advertising. Next year apparently doesn’t look much better.

Death of Detroit

… Would Wallop Ad World

A Failed Bailout Would Pain Media, Agencies — Some More Than Others

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler together accounted for 3.3% of 2007 U.S. measured ad spending, according to Ad Age DataCenter’s analysis of TNS Media Intelligence data. Big deal? Yes — as in $4.6 billion in measured spending.

Motown’s share

3.3% of total U.S. measured spending

5.9% of total U.S. network TV spending

49% of total (foreign and domestic) automakers’ U.S. measured spending

2.8% of total U.S. magazine ad spending

8.0% of total spending in Sports Illustrated

9.2% of total spending on Fox network TV

2.5% of total U.S. cable-TV ad spending

6.8% of ad spending on ESPN

The world’s top four agency companies — Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Interpublic Group of Cos. and Publicis Groupe — count on Detroit’s Big Three for as much as 6% of revenue.

If one or more of Detroit’s carmakers goes away, gets smaller or goes into bankruptcy, “all media companies need to be concerned and there will be an impact on agencies, which derive a substantial amount of their income from [Detroit],” warned Bob Liodice, president-CEO of the Association of National Advertisers. “These are substantial, heavyweight players. You’ve got some of the largest marketing spending companies in America.”

The Big Three’s measured ad spending tumbled 14% in the first eight months of the year — even before a credit freeze, freefall in October auto sales and dwindling cash made bankruptcy reorganization a real prospect for at least some of Detroit.

Some media are especially vulnerable. The four major TV networks last year generated a hefty 5.9% of revenue from the Big Three, according to TNS data. Most reliant was News Corp.’s Fox: 9.2% of the network’s measured ad revenue came from Detroit.

A Fox spokesman said the network has only two hours of national broadcasting daily, so its percentage of Detroit ads would be significantly higher than those of the other national broadcast networks, which offer many more hours.

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MTV Music Gets It Right, Right Out of the Box

Media Reviews for Media People: MTVMusic.com

Larry Dobrow

I don’t know why MTV didn’t unleash MTVMusic.com sooner. As out of character as it might be for today’s MTV to do something music-related, the brand remains synonymous with music videos to a large percentage of the Loverboy-loving universe. We can find a large percentage of what MTV Music offers elsewhere; somehow it just feels better to watch the clips on an MTV-stamped offshoot. The brand remains embedded in our collective consciousness.

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The Right Way to Tell Your Employer You’re Leaving Timing, In-Person Communication Can Ensure You’ll Be Going on Good Terms

Talentworks

As an executive recruiter, I often speak with executives who receive offers, and nine times out of 10 the first question they ask me is: “How and when do I give notice?” It’s a good question on many levels because how and when someone resigns can have a major impact on a future career path.

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MillerCoors to Consolidate Media Roster

Invites Only Legacy Agencies to Pitch for $400 Million Account

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — MillerCoors announced its much-anticipated intention to consolidate the media-agency roster on its $400 million account. The No. 2 U.S. brewer said it would allow only its legacy media agencies to compete.

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Nothing Scary About Predicted Halloween Spending NRF: Sales Will Grow 14% for Holiday; Only 1.5% for Christmas Season

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In a holiday role reversal, Christmas is looking spooky, while Halloween appears to be downright cheery. The National Retail Federation reported that more consumers plan to celebrate the haunted holiday — and, on average, plan to spend more for it than last year.

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The Meltdown: Woes Go Well Beyond Financial Flux

Marketers Take Some Solace in the Fact That Consumer Confidence Doesn’t Have Far to Fall

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — The good news for marketers: The 500-point drop in the Dow last week didn’t deal any serious new blows to consumer confidence. The bad news for marketers: Consumer confidence was already shot, and the market’s sickening roller-coaster ride didn’t help.

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Self-Absorbed Media Missing the Biggest Story of Our Time Sure, We Can Talk About Who Said What About Lipstick, but Now’s a Good Time to Refocus the Conversation

Commentary by Jonah Bloom

There can be a positive in this mess, if we hear the alarm bell and confront the real challenge — the need to rebuild the American economy for the 21st century.

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‘Mad Men’ Still the Reality for Agency World

Society Has Changed. Entertainment Has Changed. Clients Have Changed. What About Us?

The Big Tent

When I was on the board of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors in the late ’80s, the entertainment industry would assert that prepared Latino talent either didn’t exist or simply could not be found. The entertainment industry has made progress. Sadly, the advertising industry has not followed suit.

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Can We Write in Dan Wieden? Is the Candidate That’s Good for Us Good for Our Business?

Small Agency Diary

I’ve been somewhat ambiguous about media consolidation, especially in radio. That said, I am a big proponent of improving the quality and diversity of what happens in the industry both on the air and on the ground.

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Dobrow Sees the Future, Is Glad It Upholds the Best From the Past

Media Reviews for Media People: Esquire’s 75th-Anniversary Issue

To the list of things I want from magazines’ special commemorative issues, I now add a flashy, digital cover that costs $7.25 million to produce and requires a fleet of nonunionized Guatemalan laborers to assemble. That’s the tactic Esquire has devised to buzz-ify its 75th-anniversary issue, and it seems to have worked from a PR perspective.

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Fox’s ‘Fringe’ Is a Hit With Media Buyers

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Fox’s new “Fringe” is a hit with media buyers. The show, which had its debut this week, is a grand serial epic in the tradition of “Lost.” It combines large helpings of weird science and wild conspiracy theory with serious FBI work and sexy drama to create an action thriller. Ad Age television editor Brian Steinberg says media buyers are closely watching audience reaction because of Fox’s special clutter-busting ad-sales strategy for the show.

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