Spotify branded playlists – where next?

MTV and The Body Shop have joined up with online music service Spotify to support its Staying Alive Foundation (which aims to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS) to create playlists on the website.

I have been listening to the companies’ ‘play safe’ sexy playlists for people to listen to; folks can also add their own choices to the mix. Those singers and bands featured in the MTV/The Body Shop track promotion include The Saturdays and the Stereophonics.

What next? The McDonald’s playlist on Spotify? Well, apparently Spotify has already signed up Nike, Ray-Ban and H&M as partners (and Carling already has a section where people can share Spotify playlists on its website) so maybe that’s not such a silly idea.

And since Burger King has just done a mashup to promote its children’s range which combines the talents of SpongeBob Square Pants and Sir Mix-a-Lot, which you can see below, suddenly the idea of a McDonald’s Spotify soundtrack sounds pretty normal.

Starbucks profit plunge: what’s brewing in Seattle?

Starbucks profits have declined this quarter by 77% after the company closed 123 American stores as part of a plan to slash costs.  But why is the company finding times tough?

This is my opinion:

We’re all looking at our spending and thinking: do we really need to pay a premium for coffee? The brands having real problems in this current climate are the ones that have taken something that people considered to be an everyday staple and given it a premium spin. When times were good, we enjoyed making even mundane aspects of our lives a little bit more upmarket. Now, though, we don’t mind spending money on really expensive items that will have a long life or bring a unique experience to us but we resent extra spending when it is on less important things.

Back when Starbucks first came around, it was something really different. It was positioned as “the third place” and we bought into the idea of this home-from-home on the high street. Sure, it cost more than making your brew at home but it was such a nice atmosphere.

Now coffee culture is so much more firmly fixed in our society, Starbucks no longer seems like a premium option. There are masses of little independent options for the pricier end of coffee, with great atmosphere; they really make coffee drinking feel like a premium experience. Personally, Starbucks was almost a “training” coffee for me; I didn’t drink too much coffee, got into Starbucks and then graduated to gourmet blends from pricey little specialists. Now I can’t go back.

Even at the cheaper end, there are also independent stores, coffee trollies or even McDonald’s, which has launched new ranges of coffee blends. In the US, Dunkin’ Donuts is also trying to steal its share.

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Somehow, Starbucks has got stuck in the middle. It’s no longer premium enough to be considered by me as a really high experience but nor is it cheap enough to be a mainstream option in a recession. Time Magazine is even calling it a predictor of middle class fortunes.

So how is Starbucks reacting?

The company is launching a multimillion pound campaign to challenge the idea that coffee is expensive. It claims the campaign will be “long term” and help define what’s true and untrue about its pricing and emphasise its quality.

Will it work? You tell me.

Coke raises topic of value-based agency compensation model

I read about this a while ago but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It’s a story about Coke pushing value-based agency compensation models in AdAge. What does that mean? Well, in marketing speak it means that agencies will get their costs recouped if their work doesn’t perform, but they could generate profit margins as high as 30% if their work hits targets.

Coke already shifted from paying a flat fee based on hours worked in some of its markets last year; this will encompass all agency relationships by 2011. With an alleged $3bn ad budget, Coke’s model might have a massive influence on the rest of the marketing industry if it goes ahead. Apparently P&G is already practising some of the same concepts in agency relationships but if Coke also adopts this on a wider scale, it could be even bigger news.

Is this a fair process? What do you think?

Just Eat gets Beach Boy to sing the brand’s praises

Now this is one of the most random promotional pushes I’ve seen in a while. The PRs for Just Eat, a website to let you order takeaway online, have got in touch to tell me that one of the Beach Boys, David Marks, loves their service. Apparently, when in the UK on a promotional tour, Marks enjoyed using the service and now is happily promoting it with great pearls of wisdom, such as:

“With or without The Beach Boys, one of the great problems of travelling is that you can find yourself eating in areas where you are not always sure of the choice of food available and one of the great things about Just-Eat is that all I needed to do was to enter the post-code where I was heading to and was able to order on-line anywhere in the country – simple!”

Hmmm. Will the Beach Boys shift takeaway portions? Really? Not sure what the benefit is for Just Eat apart from a little profile raising. Maybe that’s enough though? I guess it caught my attention, although not necessarily for the right reasons……

Facebook maps trends in swine flu

Facebook is doing some interesting stuff mapping the spread of swine flu conversation across its network to show off its Lexicon trends research tool. You can read more about what social media companies are doing in the world of research in next week’s Marketing Week but check out this interesting little set of graphs here.

Tom Peters tells some recessionary truths

A guru gets it right? Tom Peters tells some recessionary truths

I’m not a big fan of anyone called a marketing guru. But Tom Peters has written a very amusing and honest rant on his website about the recession and how it makes him feel. I like it.

The green dream – crisp packets that decompose

We have all had a few crisps decompose on us. You know how it happens – they get stuck down the back of the sofa and…….oh, hold on, Frito-Lay has gone one step further. Apparently, they have introduced compostable packaging for the SunChips range, available from next year. This sounds like a great step and the thought of a few less crisp packs clogging up those landfill sites is definitely a good move. Let’s hope this is one innovation that spreads to other products and brands.

An advert for my birthday please, says M&S

Some of us celebrate our birthday with cake. Marks & Spencer is no different, launching a new range of cupcakes just before its 125th birthday. But not everyone launches an ad for their anniversary; The Guardian tells us that the store will launch an ad featuring model Twiggy, who first appeared in the chain’s marketing back in 1967.

The Brand Strategy Blog – now the Marketing Week Brand and Business Blog

Hello readers

I’m Ruth Mortimer and I was formerly the editor of Brand Strategy magazine. I am now associate editor at Marketing Week and this is my brand strategy blog. If you want to look back at what we did when I was editing Brand Strategy, you can find this by searching back through the blog archive.

From now on, however, the thoughts, ideas and content of this blog will be down to me. I’ll be blogging about things that catch my eye, interest me and make me smile (or frown).

I hope you’ll enjoy it and keep reading!

Ruth

Woody Allen v American Apparel: brand value battle gets legal

It’s all about brand value for Woody Allen. And clothing brand American Apparel. But which of them is right?

Last year, the veteran film-maker started suing the clothing label for $10m for using his image from film Annie Hall in one of its ads. He claims that the use of the image implies he endorses the brand and ruins his reputation.

But what is AA’s reputation? Well…..American Apparel uses some pretty young things in its campaigns and founder Dov Charney has been accused of sexual harrassment. So perhaps this is why Allen refers to the advertising as “sleazy” and “adolescent”.

In return, the clothing range claims Allen cannot claim it is ruining his image because as a result of his relationship with his adopted step-daughter, who he married in 1997, he has already ruined his own reputation.

It’s a lawyer’s dream but who is right? Whose reputation is being damaged and why? What’s your view?