Ad Track: Tell us your favorites of '08; got a Starbucks slogan?
— -- BBDO's caffeine boost
No ad agency has ever accused Starbucks of being an easygoing client. Now, it's BBDO's turn to find out. The ad agency — which recently lost the Pepsi brand business — has picked up the java giant's account following Wieden & Kennedy's decision to opt out of it this fall.
David Lubars, chairman of BBDO North America, says he admires the perfectionism of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Starbucks is like Schultz's child, Lubars says, and as with any great entrepreneur, "He wants to be involved in how that child is being taken care of."
Lubars knows a few things about dealing with founding fathers. He has created ads for demanding company founders such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos.
Lubars also has some idea of what he's getting into with Starbucks. Before being named the official "agency of record," BBDO worked with Starbucks on a project basis. Its latest ads for the chain, which began last week, tout Starbucks' tie-in with the AIDS-related charity Product Red.
But don't expect Starbucks, which traditionally has done very little advertising, to make any major branding shifts now that it has formally teamed with BBDO. "We won't change our approach to advertising," spokeswoman Lara Wyss says.
Even so, the Ad Team wondered if BBDO — known for iconic slogans for Pepsi, including "The Choice of a New Generation," "For Those Who Think Young" and "The Joy of Cola" — would consider creating the first-ever slogan for the struggling brand.
Lubars says that "conventional advertising isn't the way to go." And Wyss says a brand slogan is "unlikely."
We want to hear what you think about that. If you have a java-riffic idea for a Starbucks slogan, let us know by commenting below. We'll forward the best suggestions to Schultz.
Tell us what you think of 2008's ads
Next month, the Ad Team will run our annual look at highlights and lowlights of the year in advertising. For 2008, we'll take a timely, albeit grim, look at ads that did the best and worst at adapting to the increasingly tough economy.
Related Stories
ABC News Live