Marketing Factoids

Of those people that recently made consumer electronics purchases in a store, 80 percent visited the store's website first. - Nielsen Online survey source ›
V users watch more TV than before (127 hrs, 15 min per month) and also spend 9 percent more time using the internet (26 hrs, 26 min per month) than they did last year source ›
Unaided ad awareness for podcasts was an impressive 68% on average (compared with industry benchmarks of 21% for streaming video and 10% for television) source ›
more factoids ›

From Prophet

Prophet's 2008 Best Practices Study: The Making of World-Class Innovators ›

Prophet's State of Marketing Survey: The Effectiveness Imperative ›

MAR 24

Starbucks Gets Web 2.0 Religion, but Can It Convert Nonbelievers?†

New Blog, Social Networks Will Likely Reignite Debate If Move Is an Attempt to Empower Consumers or Advocate for the Brand

Advertising Age, March 24, 2008 — How many ways can its legion of latte-sipping loafers ask for free Wi-Fi? Starbucks is finding out.

Last week at its annual meeting, Starbucks announced the launch of My Starbucks Idea, a social network where consumers can post ideas for how the company can improve its service and products or comment and vote on others' ideas. Voting will be tallied online, with each idea assigned a point value.

Consumers will be kept up to speed on what Starbucks is doing with the proposed suggestions on a new blog, Ideas in Action.

Though the program sounds like a smart Web 2.0 move, it has already drawn a dart or two from observers of the company, and is likely to reignite debate over whether brand-created blogs or social networks are a smart attempt to empower consumers or a cynical attempt to advocate for the company.

Category: New Media Marketing

Tags: Starbucks, Blogs, customer loyalty, Customer Needs, Social Networking