China’s President Xi writes to former Starbucks chairman in push to improve trade relations January 14, 2021 China’s President Xi Jinping has written to Starbucks’ former chairman to promote trade, state media reported this morning. Xi asked former Starbuck’s tycoon Howard Schultz to promote trade and business relations between Washington and Beijing, urging Schultz to “continue to play an active role in promoting China-US economic and trade cooperation”, the official Xinhua news [...]
Coronavirus: Starbucks bans reusable cups in bid to prevent spread of Covid-19 March 6, 2020 Starbucks has temporarily banned customers from using reusable cups in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The coffee shop chain has said customers will still get the 25p discount for bringing a reusable cup with them but drinks will be served in paper cups. Costa Coffee and Greggs have said they do not have plans to [...]
Caffeine kick: Starbucks rolls out coffee delivery service across UK cities September 17, 2019 Starbucks is rolling out a delivery service which will allow customers across the country to wake up and – immediately – smell the coffee. The world’s biggest coffee shop chain has teamed up with Uber Eats to allow people in 11 UK cities to order their favourite brew directly to their doorstep via the app. [...]
Doritos joins the ranks of the name-dropping brands September 9, 2019 The anti-marketing revolution continues. The latest move is from Doritos, which has dropped the name from its advertising. With “no logos, no jingles, no gimmicks”, we’re told that this is a product “so iconic, we don’t need to name it”. In its place, a new ad campaign called Another Level gives us lots of different [...]
Notifications to EU Commission about unlawful tax breaks rocket in state aid crackdown May 30, 2019 The number of notifications to the EU Commission about potentially unlawful tax breaks has rocketed as countries take a tougher stance on state aid. In the last five years the Commission was notified about 385 potentially unlawful tax breaks, compared to just 80 between 2007 and 2013. Over the 12 months to 31 March the [...]
Starbucks’ rival Luckin Coffee sees share price double on debut May 17, 2019 China's Luckin Coffee shares opened at $25 on Friday morning despite recent poor IPO performances. It was 47 per cent more than the issue price of $17 as the Starbuck's rival raised $561m to give it a pre-trading valuation of around $4bn. Read more: Thomas Cook shares crash 40 per cent as investors urged to sell [...]
S4 Capital continues to grow profits as it lands big-name client wins May 3, 2019 Sir Martin Sorrell’s advertising firm S4 Capital has posted another quarter of bumper revenue and profit growth as it looks to win over big clients with its digital-first approach. Read more: Sir Martin Sorrell was paid £140,000 by S4 Capital in 2018 The figures S4 Capital posted like-for-like revenue growth of 35 per cent to [...]
S4 Capital continues to grow profits as it lands big-name client wins May 3, 2019 Sir Martin Sorrell’s advertising firm S4 Capital has posted another quarter of bumper revenue and profit growth as it looks to win over big clients with its digital-first approach. Read more: Sir Martin Sorrell was paid £140,000 by S4 Capital in 2018 The figures S4 Capital posted like-for-like revenue growth of 35 per cent to [...]
China is proving a tough market for western brands – here’s the common mistakes that companies keep making April 12, 2019 Last week, the International Monetary Fund upgraded its 2019 growth forecast for the Chinese economy to 6.3 per cent, up from 6.2 per cent. For comparison, the UK economy is only expected to grow 1.2 per cent this year. It’s worth noting these figures, because they highlight why many brands in the UK and elsewhere [...]
Chilango, burrito bonds, and London – the boss of the Mexican food chain talks about the virtues of crowdfunding April 8, 2019 After interviewing Eric Partaker, the co-founder of burrito chain Chilango, he says I should try the food at his elaborately decorated restaurant on Cannon Street. I ask what he recommends, and instead of picking from the regular menu, he suggests I sample the “Noah’s Ark” – a lunch box containing all the meat options. A [...]