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Roula Khalaf, editor of FT, chooses her favorite story in this weekly newsletter.
When the first time read The second week when Starbucks encouraged his staff to write notes about cups of customers like “Incredible” and “Thanks Dan”, I thought it was a joke.
But no. It turns out that the company has a completely serious plan to encourage “moments of connection” with patron saint, which means that any unfortunate buyer Karamel Brulée Latte now risks such an experience.
Customers can also be handed a cup with a smile or, if they look familiar, a note that says, “Hi again.” All of this is part of the reversing strategy released by his latest CEO Brian Niccol to increase his decay sales. Niccol, former chief Chipotle Burrito, became Starbucks’ Fourth boss In less than three years last year and, because of 360,000 people employing around the world, I hope he succeeded.
But I am also pleased that the idea of writing the cups so far is limited to Starbucks’s North American operations because it is difficult for me to imagine that writing such messages fills it with joy.
First of all, it is long -lasting and the second part of Niccol’s turn predicts customers Be surrender Their coffee within four minutes.
More, the messages are insincere. Generally I’m not amazing, and even if I did, how would I know the stranger behind the counter in Starbucks?
Also, it is possible, though a little probably, that the next time I buy coffee, I have already done my best to use the day. Either way, I shouldn’t persuade me to do it someone I don’t know.
Niccol’s strategy is based on his fear that some customers, especially Americans, feel like their experience is Starbucks “transaction”. But a quick, decent, successful exchange of money for goods is the transaction I want when buying coffee.
This is the same if I ever catch the Eurostar train at the London Station of ST Pancras. When I wait for my train, I want to hear the announcements that tell me when it arrives and what platform I need to go to. I don’t have to hear the corporation very much slogan Eurostar started in 2023: “We’re going on together.”
So I was not surprised to have read the complaint on the social media for the second week of one regular passenger, political journalist Jon Stone, who was scared when he heard the staff recite the phrase at the end of regular announcements in ST Pancras. “Please stop,” he wrote. “It’s incredibly howling.”
It is indeed embarrassing. Division of the meaning of the announcement about the crowded cells is difficult enough. No need to flood them with a careful corporate mud.
Fortunately, Eurostar says his staff are not expected or a slogan need to be pronounced. The Stone of the announcer who listened to it decided to include it that day, a spokesman told me. “But there is no additional incentive or consequences for that.”
I’m still not sure of a slogan like “together let’s move on.” In fact, you do not go further to Eurostar, together or otherwise, but where the ticket allows you.
But at least the idea had a purpose. Eurostar tried to emphasize the fact that its network spread to five countries – the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
The same cannot be said for a stunning piece of marketing wizard who appeared in Australia last month.
For the last 36 years, the national athletic body in the country has been able to go through with a perfectly reasonable name Athletics Australia. This benefits from a short, simple and precise transmission of what the organization is and what it does, which is always useful for the name.
But at the end of January, the body issued a news to announce that he entered in 2025. “With a bold new identity.” From now on, his name would change from Australia athletics to Australian athletics.
“This rebrand is not just a new look,” said Director Simon Hollingsworth. “It’s about questioning what athletics means to the Australians.”
Unfortunately, this is garbage of gold medals. Upside down, the move was a fan disturbance. In fact, I rarely saw such a bold part of anti -Podean marketing since 2015, when the University of West Sydney declared It will become the University of Western Sydney.
