There’s probably a sizable crossover between people who drink Starbucks regularly and people who wear Nikes. But unless they also like ugly shoes, the Nike SB Dunk Low “Starbucks” Premium sneaker is going to be a bust.
Here’s a nugget we almost missed last week amidst all the rose liquor and self-congratulations: an artist sued Starbucks and 72andSunny for allegedly ripping off her work.
The New York Post, of all places, first broke news of Maya Hayuk’s plans to take the coffee brand to court for co-opting her artwork in the packaging of its new mini-frappucino product.
The lawsuit filed by Saunders & Silverstein (full doc shared here via Animal New York) names both Starbucks and 72andSunny. Hayuk told The Post that a rep from the agency contacted her last October, writing “we love your work,” but the artist declined to collaborate with the company after the parties involved spent several days trying to negotiate a deal.
Several months later, Hayuk noticed a resemblance between her own murals (image via her Facebook page):
…and the rainbow-colored imagery Starbucks used on the product’s packaging when it launched:
Get your hands on one 
RT @frappuccino: Ta-dahhh! Meet the Mini Frappuccino! pic.twitter.com/W8vnqB9IU9
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) May 11, 2015
More specifically, Hayuk told the Post that the image on the cups was very close to that of five specific paintings that she recently completed.
Here is a side-by-side comparison via Artnet (images taken by Hayuk herself):
As the suit puts it, “Hayuk has a unique and distinctive style that is very recognizable” and does not resemble the work of Jordan Kay, the artist credited with creating the Starbucks packaging (portfolio here).
You may be reminded of a case from 2012 in which the band Beach House was approached by Volkswagen and DDB regarding a song the company wanted to use in one of its UK ads. The band said no, so the agency got the music production studio involved in the subsequent campaign to create a song so similar that fans started emailing the video to Beach House’s Alex Scally, who later told The New York Times that the whole ordeal felt “very invasive.”
In this case as in that one, the accuser will probably not win in court because the ad does not appear to be a direct copy of one of her pieces. (As noted by Artnet, Hayuk has sued various parties in the past for using her work in promo campaigns without receiving permission to do so.)
In other news regarding agencies taking credit for work they didn’t create, Geometry Global Dubai was forced to return its Cannes Grand Prix for product design after various parties noted that no one at the agency actually played an active role in designing the winning product. They just promoted it.
Good to know that the ad industry continues to respect the creative process above all other things.
Starbucks is encouraging its baristas to write the words “Race Together” on cups to get customers talking about racial issue. The idea started internally when about 2,000 Starbuckians attended a forum to talk about Ferguson, Mo., but surely no one foresaw the shit storm that would erupt when it went public.
This isn’t the coffee company’s first time at the social cause rodeo. It’s taken on guns and gay rights gamely, with applause from its largely liberal audience. But somehow, the clumsy nature of reducing a serious, impossibly complex national conversation to a hashtag on a coffee cup has united Twitter users of all races in roundly denouncing the attempt.
Not sure what @Starbucks was thinking. I don’t have time to explain 400 years of oppression to you & still make my train. #RaceTogether
— April (@ReignOfApril) March 17, 2015
Being a barista is hard enough. Having to talk #RaceTogether with a woman in Lululemon pants while pouring pumpkin spice is just cruel.
— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) March 17, 2015
if only Selma had just put in a starbucks
— Jessica Misener (@jessmisener) March 17, 2015
Apparently, in the @Starbucks world, this is what #RaceTogether looks like. http://t.co/ciaEl3yu2l pic.twitter.com/SIox0kmGnz
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) March 17, 2015
Entrepreneur points out that the campaign puts an unfair burden on the baristas. And let’s be frank, they maybe aren’t being given the resources and information to hold an informed, nuanced discussion of the topic when a customer walks in and asks their feels on the subject of cultural appropriation, and by the way, do they find it awkward that ordering a black coffee or a flat white espresso will now have an extra layer of uncomfortable meaning?
More than a few people are suggesting Starbucks needs to first have a serious conversation with itself about race—more diversity in leadership, a serious look at where they are and aren’t putting their stores (interestingly, there are no Starbucks actually in the town of Ferguson), and of course, fair trade for all their coffee growers.
It’s worth a little discomfort. Here’s the what and the why of #RaceTogether. http://t.co/jO56LvKeO8
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) March 17, 2015
Starbucks, for its part, claimed that broaching the topic is worth a little discomfort. But that was right before vp of communications Corey duBrowa deleted his Twitter account because attacks were distracting from a “respectful conversation.”
The important thing is that Starbucks has finally united Americans in a conversation about how much they don’t want to have a conversation about race—at least, not before they have their coffee.
Amid all the dubious tweets and outright fails from advertisers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday, here’s a little gem from Starbucks that flew under the radar.
“It’s time to look at things differently. Again,” says the copy on the newspaper version of the ad, which ran in The New York Times. The brand also posted versions of the ad to Twitter and Facebook. A rep at one of Starbucks’ agencies said it was done in-house by the marketer. “But we all are big fans of it,” the agency rep said.
Simple, classy and powerful.
In what appears to be a clandestine RFI process, Starbucks has announced a changing of the guard in its media agency relationship.
Following only the first phase in review, the java giant has decided to cut ties with Omnicom PHD and hire Publicis Groupe’s Spark. Prior to the RFI and decision after the initial review, PHD was Starbucks’ media agency for the past six years.
continued…
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Artist and barista Gabriel Nkweti Lafitte, who works at the Starbucks across from the British Museum in London, has been taking some pretty awesome liberties with the chain’s “name on a cup” policy for dispensing coffee to customers.
Lafitte incorporates lucky customers’ names into hand-drawn line art on their cups, and some of the designs—which are as inventive and detailed as anything I’ve seen out of a proper design shop—take him up to 40 hours to complete.
I don’t know what his original system was for deciding who got special art cups, but right now he only takes requests (and he’s swamped). Starbucks, which tells Metro U.K. “it’s fantastic how he takes our iconic cup design and makes it his own,” should just commission Lafitte to do a line of ceramic mugs before another company figures out that he’s way too talented to be slinging iced coffees all day.
Check out some of our favorites below and a full gallery on his Facebook page.
Artist and barista Gabriel Nkweti Lafitte, who works at the Starbucks across from the British Museum in London, has been taking some pretty awesome liberties with the chain's "name on a cup" policy for dispensing coffee to customers.
Lafitte incorporates lucky customers' names into hand-drawn line art on their cups, and some of the designs—which are as inventive and detailed as anything I've seen out of a proper design shop—take him up to 40 hours to complete.
I don't know what his original system was for deciding who got special art cups, but right now he only takes requests (and he's swamped). Starbucks, which tells Metro U.K. "it's fantastic how he takes our iconic cup design and makes it his own," should just commission Lafitte to do a line of ceramic mugs before another company figures out that he's way too talented to be slinging iced coffees all day.
Check out some of our favorites below and a full gallery on his Facebook page.
Freddie Jordan nous propose avec ce concept Starbucks SeedPod un projet de jardinage collaboratif. Un objet voulant représenter la mouvance du guerrilla-gardening, et qui propose d’offrir des graines à semer pour chaque achat de café, dans un design soigné. Un projet à découvrir en images dans la suite.
Starbucks wants you to think it's just like your neighborhood cafe from 100 years ago. The coffee mega-chain has opened a New Orleans location with an interior design inspired by what the coffee giant thinks a Louisiana apothecary's shop at the turn of the 20th century would have looked like. It's part of the company's attempts to create "locally relevant" stores—as opposed to the same old cookie-cutter atmosphere.
Apart from the fact that it's totally absurd for a giant corporation to try to feel like a small business, the design does look nice, and seems to mean some extra work for artists, usually a good thing. The strategy, clever in a mercenary sort of way, stretches from Seattle—where there are apparently some jarring anecdotes about members of Starbucks research team hanging out at the local competition and taking extensive notes—to Tokyo, where one store's design reportedly pays homage to traditional tea houses.
The concept even comes with a cringeworthy oxymoron of a portmanteau (not the sole purview of Starbucks), which really only emphasizes how ridiculous the whole thing is. Plus, no matter how the inside of the store looks, the coffee will remain mediocre.
Via PSFK.
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Agora você não mais poder enrolar pra pagar todos aqueles cafés que está devendo. A Starbucks criou o programa “Tweet a Coffee”, em que você pode dar um café para alguém através de uma simples menção no Twitter.
Basta enviar um tweet para o perfil @tweetacoffee citando o @ que será presenteado. A pessoa recebe um cupom digital no valor de US$ 5, que pode ser utilizado ao ser apresentado em qualquer uma das lojas Starbucks.
Por enquanto só funciona para clientes nos EUA, e os interessados devem conectar as contas da Starbucks e do Twitter no site starbucks.com/tweet-a-coffee.
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You would think only joyful celebration would follow the news that Starbucks has created the "Duffin," a doughnut-muffin crossover pastry. But instead, we've ended up with Duffingate, a tempest in a Twitter teapot.
The story starts a few years back, when a small British bakery chain, Bea's of Bloomsbury, began selling its own jam-filled doughnut-textured muffin that customers would soon dub the Duffin. All was right with the world until last week, when Starbucks U.K. announced its own Duffin—and even had its supplier, Rich Products, trademark the name.
"I never trademarked the name duffin because I didn't think it was necessary," Bea's chef Bea Vo tells the Guardian. "We are a tiny independent—can we afford to fight this trademark and any future cease-and-desist letter? No."
Starbucks reportedly says it won't enforce the trademark, but that hasn't stopped the digital fist-shaking from small business advocates." Another reason to boycott Starbucks," notes one Londoner, "if the terrible coffee is not enough."
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Déjà à l’origine du superbe projet Fruit Market au Japon, les équipes de Kengo Kuma And Associates ont imaginé ce magnifique design pour la boutique de la franchise « Starbucks » dans la ville de Dazaifu dans la préfecture de Fukuoka. Une utilisation incroyable du bois, à découvrir dans la suite.
Parte-se de dois princípios: que Amsterdam é uma cidade ideal para experimentar coisas novas e que Starbucks é uma marca que explora muito bem o conceito de “estar”. Unindo esses dois pontos, vem a notícia: a marca de cafés veio para surpreender em sua mais nova loja-conceito na capital da Holanda, chamada The Bank. Ela será a única loja em que as pessoas irão se referir como “laboratório”, pois ficará responsável por oferecer uma evolução na experiência vivida, extrapolando e redefinindo a atmosfera de beber café.
Construída no lugar de um cofre de banco histórico da cidade, terá uma parte subterrânea e carregará história por ser feita pelas mãos de artistas e artesãos locais. O resultado disso tudo é uma loja repleta de design, utilizando materiais sustentáveis e itens antigos, com o objetivo de manter características da tradição holandesa.
Além disso, The Bank será um centro de testes de métodos inovadores em fazer café, terá lotes de cafés exclusivos, contará com conceitos novos de alimentos (incluindo no interior da loja uma área de panificação) e terá um espaço dedicado às apresentações de bandas locais, leituras de poesia e outras várias atividades, trazendo à tona o posicionamento de ser um ponto de encontro cultural.
Um novo ponto turístico que vale a pena a visita.
Se abrisse uma loja-conceito da Starbucks aqui no Brasil, onde ela ficaria e como você imagina que ela seria?
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La plus grande chaîne multinationale de cafés Starbucks vient d’ouvrir à Amsterdam un nouveau café et concept-store. Avec tout un dispositif moderne et un design d’intérieur très réussi, vous trouverez une série d’images du lieu dans la suite de l’article.
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O Twitter anunciou hoje, através de seu blog, o lançamento da esperada plataforma de publicidade, intitulada “Promoted Tweets”. É enfim uma resposta para a pergunta que deve circular dentro dos bastidores do serviço desde o seu lançamento: como o site vai fazer dinheiro?
O modelo vai colocar tweets patrocinados nos resultados de busca, inicialmente, e devem aparecer também na timeline dos usuários tanto na versão web quando em aplicações de terceiros, como TweetDeck, Seesmic e Tweetie (comprado pelo Twitter na semana passada).
Dessa forma, a publicidade é encarada pelo Twitter como conteúdo, e a intenção é promover um tweet para que ele se destaque entre o enorme volume de atualizações que um usuário pode receber. Pelo menor por enquanto, apenas um anúncio por vez será permitido.
Os primeiros clientes incluem Starbucks, Best Buy, Sony Pictures, Red Bull, Virgin America e Bravo. Nesse primeiro momento, os anunciantes compram palavras-chave baseadas em CPM, mas o sistema de preços deve ser alterado futuramente, influenciado por métricas que inclui a popularidade do anúncio, como quantidade de retweets e favoritos.
Depois de meses de estudo e testes, o Promoted Tweets deve entrar em funcionamento ainda hoje, e o Twitter promete acompanhar a resposta dos usuários para traçar os próximos planos para a plataforma.
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Contando: depois de Pepsi, Intel, Metro News, HBO, Warner Bros., etc, a Starbucks é a nova marca a garantir presença oficial no Foursquare.
A gigante rede de café tem agora uma badge especial em seu nome, intitulada “Barista”. Para ganhar, é preciso dar check-in em 5 lojas diferentes da Starbucks.
A empresa anunciou ainda planos de oferecer recompensas reais para os consumidores fiéis, como cupons mobile que valem café grátis, ou convite para eventos especiais, assim como já fazem dezenas (centenas?) de estabelecimentos em diversos países (nenhum do Brasil).
Os dois lados, tanto a Starbucks como o Foursquare ganham com o acordo, e é mais um esperto movimento da marca que é considerada a mais engajadora em redes sociais.
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No ano passado, a Starbucks deu início a sua estratégia de transformar algumas de suas lojas em locais, digamos, menos parecidos com uma gigante corporação padronizada presente no mundo todo.
A primeira experiência começou em Seatle, terra natal da marca, com uma loja chamada 15th Ave Coffee and Tea, e que rapidamente ganhou o apelido de “Starbucks camuflada”. Nada de logos da sereia ou baristas em uniformes verdes, apenas o que parece ser um simpático e artesanal café local.
A única coisa que dá a pista de ser uma Starbucks é a frase “Inspired by Starbucks” logo na porta, de resto, tudo é diferente. A intenção da marca não é criar uma nova rede, mas usar essas lojas locais como um laboratório para novas ideias. Um espaço com liberdade para inovar, e o aproveitar o que sair de melhor nas Starbucks regulares.
Já outros, indicam a estratégia como uma experiência artificial. Uma tentativa dissimulada de se parecer um café local e atrair novos consumdores.
No vídeo abaixo, Patrick Oppmann da CNN visita a “Starbucks camuflada” e conversa com Arthur Rubinfeld, presidente de desenvolvimento global da marca.
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A partir de amanhã, a Starbucks promete iniciar a maior campanha de mídia que o Facebook já viu. Uma iniciativa que visa celebrar a entrada da marca no projeto (RED), fundo global de combate a Aids na África.
No dia 7 de dezembro, a empresa vai reunir diversos músicos para cantar, simultaneamente, “All You Need Is Love” dos Beatles, com transmissão ao vivo no site StarbucksLoveProject.com.
E com isso, convida também as pessoas a participarem, gravando suas próprias versões da canção e enviando para o projeto. Para cada contribuição, a Starbucks irá fazer uma doação para a (RED).
A campanha no Facebook vai atingir 16 países, incluindo Brasil, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Canadá, Turquia, França, Espanha, Alemanha, Suiça, Áustria, Irlanda, Córeia do Sul, Tailândia, China, Cingapura e Indonésia. Os anúncios do “Love Project” serão exibidos nas primeiras cinco vezes que cada usuário, desses países, se logar no Facebook.
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A Starbucks, em mais uma iniciativa para demonstrar sua transparência e comprometimento com a comunidade, está convidando seus funcionários para contarem um pouco de seu dia a dia de trabalho.
Quem trabalha na rede, pode fazer upload de um vídeo de até 2 minutos no site mystarbucksstory.com. No dia 30 de novembro, os depoimentos serão publicados e abertos para votação dos favoritos.
É simples e, como você percebeu, nada mirabolante, mas é uma ideia de uma sensibilidade tão grande que deveria servir de exemplo de endomarketing, e ainda mais, de branding. No ano passado, a rede de cafeterias já havia lançado o “My Starbucks Idea”, para discutir sugestões e ideias dos consumidores.
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Today somebody asked me why I love social media. There are so many reasons and it’s hard for me to choose only a few. So I did what any other social media savvy individual would do: I posted the question on Facebook, Twitter and other outlets. I was able to use social media to explain why I love social media and I think fellow blogger Jenna McWilliams says it best: “Social media is not a trend, but a fundamental human urge to communicate,” and now we have more ways to do so. So, my top five reasons:
1. 1-800 customer care number? Consider it a thing of the past. Remember the time when we had 1-800 numbers? We’d wait on hold for eternity to finally get connected to someone in another country who was so far from executives that we were sure our complaints or problems would never be heard. Social media has changed that. Now companies have to listen to their customers because unhappy ones can broadcast their displeasure through social media. Also, it’s no longer a one-way conversation. Some companies have jumped onto the social media bandwagon (as they should) and created accounts to ask consumers to help create and improve their brands. Two most notable examples are Starbucks’ My Starbucks Idea and Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice.
2. Efficiency of reaching consumers. Look at social media this way – imagine all of your customers coming together on a daily basis and talking about topics that pertain to you and your company, thereby spreading even more information about your company and gaining more recognition and consumers. One of my favorite quotes comes from my mentor and good friend, Griffin Farley of 22squared: “Don’t plan for the ones you reach, plan for the ones they reach.”
3. Being connected (this was the most popular answer I received after posting the question). When something happens to ourselves or to someone we know, we share it with others through pictures, comments and tweets. More importantly, it’s a new way to get news, support, and advice on anything.What better way to educate yourself on advertising and marketing than by following an expert in a specific field? Who knows, it could even get you a job (Tweeter Neal Schafer had it happen to him after he started his blog and web site).
4. Creative campaigns. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if I had a TiVo, all I would record are commercials. I like advertising, but not because I want to learn about the products. I like the creativity used to showcase a product to consumers. And now with social media, they’re becoming even more creative. Viral videos, Twitter giveaways, Facebook fan pages, etc. I can’t get enough of them. Old school + new school = awesome, consumer-activity-inducing campaigns.
5. The best thing about social media? It is changing the way we think. And with the exponential growth of it, no social media professional can be sure of where these new media will lead. But I can tell you that it’s exciting to see the evolution.
Megan Green is a freelance propagation planner who has had her work published on PR News Wire, as well as many other outlets. Contact her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or at megankategreen@gmail.com.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.