The Kölner Starbucks Effect

February 25, 2010 Leave a comment

Starbucks coffee at Köln Dolm

Starbucks coffee at Köln Dolm

Starbucks: a McDonalds story?

Thoughts automatically focussed on the marketing strategy of Starbucks. I don’t know it particularly well. However, in the first instance, it seems like a McDonalds story. This means: geographically expanding by buying properties or buying out others in order to create some sort of “experience”. For Starbucks, I would call it the “New York Coffeehouse from Friends Experience”.

Why didn’t I have that Coffeehouse Experience?

I believe exporting a product from one culture to another isn’t that easy. Maybe Europeans are used to drinking coffee elsewhere? Maybe Europeans want better coffee (I did not like the coffee that I ordered, tasted like carton)? Did Starbucks create the wrong expectations in my head? Was my view biased by Rachel, Ross, Monica, etc. ? Whatever might be the reason, I won’t be a Starbucks fan on facebook – millions already are!

Filed under Business, Culture & Arts, Marketing, Society Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Search engine optimization as a PR tool

February 24, 2010 1 Comment

Search engine optimization

SEO is about tricks to put web pages on top of Google’s search results. It has proven to be a fruitful marketing technique in order to attract more visitors to your website. Another nice feature about Google manipulation is the way it has changed the PR game.

SEO for PR

The thing is: journalists are human beings as well and try to obtain the maximum result with a minimum of efforts. In their “search for news” they also rely on the internet. And most of the time they just “Google” for news. You suppose they would double-check that information. But due to lack in time, they often do not.

Means-end-chain: SEO for Thought-leadership

One of the great PR goals in today’s society is being the “thought leader” within the sector or industry. Studies have shown that being on the number 1 Google result page evokes the psychological effect of “the best, the biggest, etc.” For PR people today SEO could be a means to the end of thought-leadership.

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Reflections on Carrefour to drastically cut jobs in Belgium

February 23, 2010 Leave a comment

Google screenshot "Carrefour" keyword

Google screenshot "Carrefour" keyword

2 of my most visited Carrefour supermarkets will be closed …

The plan calls for cutting 1672 jobs and closing 21 stores in Belgium by end-June, Carrefour Belgium said in a statement on Tuesday. (yes, this is the first sentence on a Google search on Carrefour and I’m so lazy I just copy/pasted it, and that’s why it’s in italics). But the point is, I rarely visit a Carrefour but have 2 of them very close to my place. However, Carrefour has turned out to be my lifesaver: it’s open until 20h! Both of those Carrefour supermarkets are on the closing list. I guess I’ll never see a Carrefour from the inside again.

… my friend in India however will soon meet Mr Carrefour.

Njummie! All that good stuff he’ll soon enjoy!

On that same google page result I noticed the statement of carrefour going into India. I am almost tired of writing, so I quickly want to provide the reader some insights on a possible “why” of this decision.

AFP Carrefour press release

AFP Carrefour press release

Marketing strategy?

    Facts & Figures from Belgium: 10 million inhabitants struggling to keep their wealth as high as in the past, a government that has almost the highest debt rate in the world, etc.
    Facts & Figures from India: estimated population 2010 1,177,424,000, increasing wealth, etc.
    Marketing strategy background: the economic core of the world economy is moving east, it’s over there that money will be made.
    Marketing strategy: “Carrefour will develop its activities in India with the start of cash-and-carry activities in 2010,” the company said in a statement emailed to AFP.

Filed under Business, Economy, Marketing, Society Tagged with ,

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