Lost at Sea...

I thought Mr. Shultz said they were going to focus on there core brand...Coffee! Not sure this is the right direction to take. Health Smoothies?? I run 40+ miles a week and I don't think I will ask my running partners if they would like to stop at Starbucks on the way back for a Smoothie.

I think they have lost there way at sea. Do what you do best..Coffee!


Starbucks is adding a line of smoothie-like drinks made with fresh fruit and whey powder throughout its U.S. locations this summer. The flavors developed include chocolate banana and orange mango. The company says they're the first stage of a broader push into healthier drink and food offerings, as well as being a differentiator that cannot be purchased at other fast-food establishments.

The company also will begin selling a more-indulgent sweet, icy beverage developed with an unnamed Italian company. That drink will be sold only in select markets, including Southern California. Part of the strategy is to price the drink affordably to appeal to customers who have cut back on spending. Starbucks wouldn't disclose the name or price of either drink.

Both drinks could help Starbucks move beyond the Frappuccino, the ice-blended drink that allowed it to expand beyond coffee drinks in the 1990s. In recent years, the Frappuccino has been less effective at driving summer sales, in part because competitors copied it.

Holy Direct Mail

Marketing The Good News
Savvy churches are using direct mail to spread the Word

Churches used to build their membership through word of mouth. Increasingly, savvy congregations are taking that approach up a notch by getting the word out via direct mail campaigns.
And while many smaller churches often do their own marketing, the larger churches are turning more often to professional marketers to help them add to the flock.
Gina Manlove, vice president of John Manlove Church Marketing, in Pasadena, Texas, says her company has done business with thousands of churches in recent years, helping craft and hone messages about a host of issues, from the arrival of a new minister to outreach to non-Christians.
“What we do is unique to each church and its needs,” says Manlove, whose company began as a business-to-business marketing company. It opened its church-marketing division in the 1990s after noticing a lack of good-quality marketing materials for churches.
She says Manlove Marketing (johnmanlove.com), which has worked with about 5,000 churches over the years, uses direct to create a brand-oriented design for each church. “Direct mail is beneficial only when it is effective,” Manlove says. “Being effective means using a brand-driven strategy. Many marketing companies focus on the cost per card. With that approach it is easy to make inexpensive direct mail cards. Instead, we measure the cards’ ability to actually increase church attendance.”
Of course, some churches still prefer to reach out to members and potential members on their own, and there are several marketing agencies that specialize in church-related materials. For example, church-marketing.com, which focuses primarily on direct mail, offers online marketing tutorials, design services, card printing services and mail shop services.
But whether the marketing is done by their members or by professionals, Manlove says, many church members remain uncomfortable with the idea of “marketing.” Manlove, however, has an answer for the skeptics: “A beautiful direct mail piece is just another way of knocking on someone’s door.”

-Deliver Magazine







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ROI !

Pizza.com goes for $2,605,000

An unidentifed bidder snagged the pizza.com domain name on April 3 for $2,605,000. Former owner Chis Clark paid $20 for the name in 1994.