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.
If you have a few minutes between sobbing over your 401(k) statement and looking for a second job, please tell us which campaigns made you chuckle, or cringe, given the economy. Don't think just financial or bank ads.
For instance, we like Harley-Davidson's response to the recession: "Screw it. … Let's ride." Please e-mail Laura Petrecca at lpetrecca@usatoday.com or make your nominations by adding a comment below.
Slowing online ad growth
In yet another negative indicator for the advertising industry, research firm eMarketer has slashed its online ad spending predictions.
In a revised forecast released recently, it predicts Internet ad spending will rise 8.9%, to $25.7 billion, next year. If that proves true, it will be the first time that Web ad spending hasn't grown annually by double digits. This summer, before the Wall Street crisis hit hard, the analysis firm had forecast an increase in 2009 spending of 14.5%.
The optimistic side: In 2010, online ad spending growth is expected to head back into double digits, with a growth rate of 10.9%.
Private-label power
It's a good bet that penny-pinchers will turn 2009 into a tough year for big brand-name consumer product makers, whose pricey ad budgets make up part of their labels' higher cost.
Already, 72% of U.S. consumers say private-label brands are a "good alternative" to name brands, according to newly released results of an online survey of nearly 54,000 Americans by The Nielsen Co. this summer.
Private-label quality was called "as good as" name brands by 62%.
That means that private labels, which currently account for about 16% of dollar sales and 21% of unit sales, could see a serious sales increase in 2009. For the 52 weeks ended Sept. 27, private-label goods already were up 10.2% from the previous year, for total U.S. sales of $81 billion.
Good deed, good gift
You'll likely get a slew of Cyber Monday online sales pitches, but the folks at non-profit Changing The Present are launching a special holiday site the same day (changethepresent.org) for shoppers to browse 350 gifts options to make the world a better place. Among them: a $17 child vaccine through UNICEF.
Agency Strawberry Frog created ads for the site that spoof traditional holiday commercials. One pokes fun at bow-topped cars as gifts, with a sheep adorned by a big red ribbon.
A good deed can also be a bargain gift: A month of care for a neglected farm sheep is $25.