Starbucks & McDonalds

When I say "Starbucks", you think "Coffee".

When I say "McDonalds", you think "Hamburgers".

These two giant are trying to change that according to these stories from a Mediapost email:

Starbucks Rolling Out New Ice Cream
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
I'm happy to see that Andrea James, a regular byline in these aggregations, is still tracking down marketing stories as a survivor on the slimmed-down staff of the newly digital-only Seattle P-I. This morning, James informs us that Starbucks has unveiled an ice cream line. It comes in flavors inspired by its most popular beverages -- caramel macchiato, mocha frappuccino, java chip frappuccino, and, of course, coffee.

But wait a minute. Haven't I been buying Starbucks coffee ice cream at the A&P for years? Well, yes. Since 1996, Starbucks had been selling ice cream under a partnership with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. In September, it announced a switch to a partnership with Unilever, which also manufactures such brands as Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Klondike and Good Humor.

"Since September, several customers noticed that they could not find the [Starbucks] ice cream on grocery store shelves and have written to the P-I in apparent distress," James reports. Now they have an answer to their queries and can go back to feeling guilty when they break training even as the softball season descends upon us. - Read the whole story...

McDonald's Leaving Initial McCafe Promos Up to Franchisees
Ad Age
Looking to boost traffic for their spanking new McCafes, regional McDonald's cooperatives are building a rare bottom-up marketing strategy for the traditionally monolithic marketer, Emily Bryson York reports. The mother ship isn't expecting to begin national advertising until midyear.

McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud says some markets will have been selling McCafe drinks for as long as three years by the time national creative hits. The national ads, which haven't been completed yet, will reflect what the company has learned from regional rollouts, she says. McDonald's hasn't undertaken a rollout of this magnitude since the 1970s -- but that was one product at a time, and didn't require a massive capital investment by franchisees.

McDonald's has said giveaways will always be at the heart of any new product offering, particularly following the success of "Free Coffee Mondays" in the Chicago and Northern Indiana market. The program designed to launch the chain's premium coffee was so successful that the region is now offering "Free McCafe Mondays," with outdoor advertising support. - Read the whole story...

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