“I’ll meet you at the Starbucks.”
“Which one?”
“The one on Broadway.”
“Like I said, which one?”
Starbucks has just announced the closure of 600 US stores, and in doing so wiped out 12,000 jobs.
I couldn’t have put it better than Marketing savant David Bloustein:
Growth via distribution will only take you so far right? Did anyone stop and think that 5 stores next to one another across the US might somewhat diminish performance for the individual stores?
I took this photo while in downtown Singapore.
While it’s clear that David Copperfield & Criss Angel are possibly two of the strongest ‘brands’ in the magic world, its not clear why they’d license their names and risk their personal brand equity?
They way start up blog sees it is that this start up magician is the only beneficiary here. Magic Box will either be great or no so great. Either way, Chris & David lose. Their either build someone elses brand, or dilute their own.
Or even worse, this is a non sanctioned pass off with no revenue sharing going to David Copperfield & Criss Angel.
Most licensing agreements have a winner and a loser. And the loser is usually the party whose brand gets over exposed. The coat tail raider often wins.
On a recent business trip to Singapore I was surprised at how much cool stuff I saw. Not just start ups, but general marketing insight. It’s my general belief ( & many others) that globalisation has taken some of the joy away from travel. It’s harder to find new stuff, different concepts, and fresh ideas. Things just cross boundaries so much quicker now with the advent of $10 air tickets and the web.
But to my pleasure, it’s still out there if you look hard enough. So enjoy the next week’s blog entiries sub branded the “Singapore Series”.
Singapore personified!
By the way: How many brands are positively identified by their employees?
Flying under the radar – actually has some real meaning. It was once the optimum strategy for a spy plane to fly as high as possible. This was thought the best way to get ‘out of reach’ of enemy and radar. The U2 spy plane did this by flying above 85,000 feet. When one was shot down during the Cuban missile crisis some smart people decided to flip their thinking.
The solution was so obvious in hindsight. Simply fly very low where the terrain blocked radar effectiveness. Underneath the radar!
Maybe it’s time to flip your thinking to solve today’s business problem.
If you’ve ever questioned the power of a visual, and the ability of it to translate on-line. Then spend 5 minutes scolling through this page from the boston globe. It really is worth a look…1000 words, no doubt.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
Here’s a link to my latest article in Anthill Magazine
It’s a thought experiment of what we ought really consider if we want to ‘dream chase’, and the reality that we aren’t really risking much at all.
It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the anything Apple does. Including the opening of the new flagship store in Sydney, Australia.
Remember this: The brand loyalty, the innovation, the industrial design and the sexy products are all 30 years in the making.
Uber success takes vocation & patience.
