John and Paul are hosting/conducting a fantastic conversation over at Brand Autopsy about what Starbucks should do following Howard Schultz's recent memo. You should have a look.
But given the red-in-tooth-and-claw nature of our world I thought an interesting assignment would be to think about what all the Starbucks competitors could do to take advantage of their apparent woes. So the task is this:
Pick a Starbucks competitor in your market. (If they're not in your market yet, imagine they're coming, because they probably are). Could be a big chain, could not be. Then write a 10-point action plan for how to respond to Starbucks as a competitor. I'm looking for 10 specific and doable things (and each point must be less than 30 words). You can talk about the store experience, the products, communications, anything. And don't just rip-off the stuff that John and Paul suggest Starbucks should do, I'll be looking for that. I'm going to be marking based on the quality of the idea and how persuasively it's expressed. (But no pictures please, just words.) And I'm going to try and find a suitable guest judge and an appropriate prize.
Get your entries in by March 20th. 10pm GMT. russell at russelldavies.com. thanks
It is easy to beat Starbucks - all you have to do is make coffee properly rather than the insipid milky muck they serve up.
Posted by: richard | March 12, 2007 at 08:55 AM
Russell, hello, just one question. Should we give you some background of the local competitor, so that the action plan can be better understood? Thanks!
Posted by: Mafe | March 12, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Mafe, sure, why not? If you like. But BRIEF.
Posted by: russell | March 12, 2007 at 08:02 PM
"This must be eradicated" tells me all I need to know about Starbucks.
Posted by: Rich | March 14, 2007 at 01:26 PM
i have just started with assignment number 1. quite late to the party, but let's try embrace the fact i showed up.I was wondering if it is possible to place my entrie on the planner wiki. this way i and all the people who do the assignments, can get multiple feedback. first and foremost from you, Russell, but secondly from all the members of the community. in fact, you should post all the entries on the wiki,. this way u would start a backcatalogue of creative briefs, problems and solutions. this way planners old an new can share and learn from each other.
i admit that my reasons for this open source format are bit selfish, but think it over and let us know.
Posted by: petar | March 21, 2007 at 02:07 PM