[Dixielandjazz] Band & Coffee Marketing

[Stephen G Barbone]

Kash wrote:

Steve wrote:
 >The Marketing lesson applies to OKOM as well as Coffee. Give the  
customers
what they want which is,  quite often, is not what the manufacturer or  
band
produces.

I know you mean well, but this "Marketing lesson" is being stretched a  
bit.
The customers in Spain certainly didn't care about any coffee being  
imported
from the U.S.  If you had read further what you obviously googled (I  
got to
the same article the same way you did!), you will have noticed that
Starbucks did a deal with already existing VIPS restaurants, which is  
a sort
of fancy fast foods chain.  This will have given them what looks like a
large presence in Spain which you mentioned:

 >They also have 76 stores in Spain with 46 in Madrid, 20 in Barcelona,
5 in Sevilla, 4 in Valencia and 1 in Las Palmas.

Madrid is a city of 5 million, so you have to actually go out and look  
for a
Starbucks if you are interested.  The three I have seen in the city  
center
are full of what suspiciously looks like Americans!

One must add to your sentence above "give the customers what they want",
with the adage "along with good quality", and maybe, with a bit of luck
included, the crowds will come.




Dear Jim:

I think you missed my point.

The point I was making about Starbuck's Marketing overseas and much  
OKOM band marketing in the USA is that they initially do/did not give  
the customer what they want.

Starbuck's learned a "marketing lesson" that to be successful  
overseas, they have to partner with local folks who understand what  
the locals want and/or already have a presence in the marketplace. And  
they learned that overseas customers may well not give a hoot about  
coffee imported from the USA. So they partnered with VIPS. They also  
do similar deals now in countries throughout the world. And as stated  
about Brazil, offering Brazilian blends there, etc. In effect they are  
now adjusting their product offering to what the customer demands.

My comments about the stores in Spain and Brazil were simply a  
response to a list mate's assertion that they were none, or that they  
were not successful in those countries. Whether or not one has to look  
for the 46 stores in Madrid is not the issue. Are they making money is  
the issue.

The bottom line for Starbuck's or for a professional OKOM band is  
whether or not they are making a profit. And whether or not they have  
sufficient customers and/or sufficient audience. Who those people are,  
makes little difference as long as they come back, and/or grow in  
numbers. eg. If there are enough Americans in Madrid to support 3  
center city Starbuck's that's cool.

I certainly agree with you about "quality". As a marketer myself, I  
view that as a given and assumed that everyone else would also.  
Nothing will kill a bad product (or music) more quickly than a huge  
marketing effort to get people to try it. You can talk your target  
audience, or the general public into buying almost anything . . .  
once. But if they perceive what they bought as junk, they will not buy  
it again and the product, business, or band will fail.

If a manufacturer of band gives the consumers what they want, they  
don't need luck. All they need do is make consumers aware of the  
product. Quality, Price and Availability plus a good marketing program  
are all one needs.

Cheers
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband