avin narasimhan

often rambling, but hopefully always interesting

Posts tagged coffeeculture

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#greatpresentationsof2010: Starbucks On Social Strategy

This deck (and video of the keynote, included below) have been making the rounds over the past few days, but thought it was worth sharing here as well (and a semi-decent way to break a new business induced post drought, I suppose). Concise and to the point, but probably the most important idea to me comes on slide 10:

Social fits within a larger digital, and integrated strategy

Simple and intuitive as that seems, to me that is a point that is so often missed and/or forgotten. I think far too often it seems people are still looking for some kind of ‘social media silver bullet’, planned for (or rather, not really planned for) in a silo outside of larger brand strategy. Great to see a brand like Starbucks giving a simple reminder that without a more holistic approach, in which all aspects of the business are aligned around a common point of view and purpose in the world, success isn’t likely to follow. Worth 20 or so minutes of your time to watch the actual presentation as well.

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Filed under accountplanning branding brands brandstrategy coffeeculture community creativity innovation socialstrategy starbucks strategy whatsnext

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Comedic Genius: Mel Gibson vs Old Spice Man

This has to be one of the best mashups I’ve seen in a long time. From the talented people at smallpoppy, very well done and the timing is brilliant.

Good thing is they had plenty of material to choose from, not just Gibson’s rants but also from the 180+ videos coming out of the brilliant Old Spice responses idea. Parodies often tear down a brand but in this case Old Spice can be happy they’re the hero while Gibson takes the heat (as he should). Enjoy.

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Filed under branding brands coffeeculture collegehumor community creativity immaturity mashupculture melgibsonracism oldspice socialweb whatsnext

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Infographic: Coffee Shops As Economic Indicators

Seems like everyday there are a slew of new stories that could tell you very different things about the state of the economy. At the beginning of May, confidence in the economy seemed to be up along with a sense of optimism, but by the end of may, reports are out that spending/incomes are down and so is our confidence. And around and around we go.

Interesting infographic from Mint (latest in a series of smart ones) offers up yet another perspective. Particularly during the worst parts of the recession, many speculated that Americans would permanently shift their behavior, and not go back to spending on some of the things we used to (I often thought the same as well). Perhaps overall this may still have a lot of truth to it. But it’s interesting that, as we approach the middle of 2010, spending on pricey coffeeshop coffee is indeed rebounding strongly (though Starbucks isn’t enjoying as much of a bump as others, apparently).

I know I can say my habit has picked up after a few months of cutting back. In some ways it feels like that says more about overall optimism and confidence than gallup poll numbers, and that actions are perhaps leading opinion in this case about how people feel about both their personal economic situation and that of the country as a whole. Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch given this is just one indicator, but still highlights an interesting divide between opinions and actual behaviors, what people say they’re going to do and what they actually do in reality.

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Filed under actionsspeaklouderthanwords coffeeculture community culture debtrising economy recession recoveryeconomy spending whatsnext