Price points†

Good customer service costs money. Some expenses are worth it -- and some aren't.

Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2006 — Holiday Inn president Mark Snyder has figured out what he needs to do for his customers, and what he doesn't.

Starbucks wants to save you a trip across the street

Putting stores close together means fewer sales lost because of the distance or long lines. The company reports little cannibalization

Associated Press, October 26, 2006 — The people who work in Seattle's tallest building face a tough decision: Should they get their caffeinated indulgence at the old Starbucks on the building's first floor or the new Starbucks, 40 floors up? And, if the lines at those two stores are too long, is it too far to walk across the street, where a third Starbucks awaits?

The Starbucks Aesthetic

New York Times, October 22, 2006 — WHEN Bette Gottfried, a 48-year-old regular at a Starbucks in Ardsley, N.Y., saw that her favorite coffeehouse was promoting a film, she wasn’t immediately interested. “At first I was leery,” said Ms. Gottfried, dressed in workout clothes, wearing her hair in a ponytail and sitting near the window with her daily decaf mocha (“low-fat milk, no foam, no whipped”). “I thought, ‘Who are they to get involved in the movies?’ ”

Starbucks takes unique approach to marketing

Seattle Times, October 12, 2006 — While McDonald's was lovin' it, Coca-Cola was the real thing and Nike wanted us to just do it, Starbucks was throwing parties instead. The coffee retailer, based in Seattle, takes an unconventional approach to marketing, choosing parties and other in-person encounters over big national advertising campaigns.

Lessons Learned from Starbucks' Coupon Snafu†

Brandweek, September 18, 2006 — Coffee chain burns itself with short-sighted e-mail promotion

Starbucks Plans to Make Debut in Movie Business†

Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2006 — Starbucks Corp., having conquered the coffee business and staked a claim in music, is setting its sights on Hollywood

Finding Your Innovation Fulcrum†

Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2005 — Customers are crying out for more and more innovation. Yet if you create too many offerings, costs spiral out of control; too few, and you miss out on profitable sales

Apple edges out google as top brand

Yahoo! News, January 31, 2005 — In the survey of almost 2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine Brandchannel, Apple ousted search engine Google from last year's top spot, but the surprise to many will be Al Jazeera's entry into the top five