Starbucks Fail: It Started With the Sandwiches

I am a huge Starbucks fan. For me, walking into a Starbucks is just like walking into an Apple store - the coffee magnate sells an experience in addition to a covetable product. When I was in classes at the University of Texas at Austin (because my classes were so huge and no one would know whether I was there anyway), I'd skip them and take my books to Starbucks. That semester - the only semester I tolerated UT's class sizes and fought its parking because its product was not worth it - I spent about $400 on Starbucks caramel frappuccinos. (Don't tell my dad.)

Eight years later, I am happy to say my Starbucks habit is a luxuries that survived the my penny-pinching, recession-inspired fit of conservativism. However, if a perky college student asks me if I would like to purchase a 12-pack of VIA Ready Brew one more time, I might just turn on my heel and walk right out of that indulgence for good.

I know I'm older now, and probably not as perky as I was in college, but doesn't Starbucks know I am a non-fat, light iced mocha with whip girl, now? And that I buy Einstein Bros Bagels coffee beans for black? I'm there every day!

It started with the sandwiches. I know Starbucks' earnings are not what they once were, and that they've faced competition from McDonald's, which has been hyping its comparable coffee drinks and can provide breakfast sandwiches, as always - but I miss my old Starbucks. The one I spent several hundreds of dollars at in less than three months.

I don't remember having to wait for a product pitch to wrap up so I could order my coffee at that Starbucks.

Though Apple's products are still performing stellarly, according to AppleInsider, in a seemingly parallel assessment, Steve Chazin wonders if the company isn't "sleepwalking" through its marketing campaigns, citing a recent NFL "Get a Mac" commercial as "bland."

I anxiously wonder, not only because I love both Starbucks and Apple and their products, but because I am a marketer myself, if teams of creative consultants, edge-defining engineers, barista brainiacs and marketing mavens at these companies can't figure it out, how is a one woman marketing show going to keep a small business' marketing efforts from going stale?