Last week Starbucks got dumped by their main agency of record- Wieden + Kennedy. Today, some details started to come through to unveil reasons behind the split. It seems that Starbucks was such a pain in the ass, WK just said no more.

At first glance, you might think how could you drop a brand like Starbucks? Well, if you look into what is going on recently, it kind of makes sense. Starbucks doesn’t have a large advertising budget, let alone for what they were using WK for ( Starbucks spent 37.6 million in media spending in 2007). Couple that with the struggles Starbucks has been facing, including laying off hundreds of employees and closing some 600 stores. And the topper, as it seems, was the increasing frustration of working with CEO Howard Schultz and his apparent unappreciation for advertising.

The article from Ad Age best sums this whole situation up:

Executives with knowledge of the situation said Starbucks was simply a very frustrating client for Wieden, an agency that other marketers have described as unusually honest in its communication with clients. Other agencies that have worked with Starbucks have felt frustration with the marketer too. Rich Silverstein, co-founder of Omnicom Group’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which did two stints representing Starbucks, said much of the fault lies with the mercurial Mr. Schultz. “He does not appreciate advertising,” he said. “Any agency that comes in has one foot out the door already.”

Will be very intersting to see where Starbuck’s marketing goes from here, and who steps up to become their next agency of record.

My girlfriend and I were at Lincoln Park Zoo Tuesday evening, and had a bit of a confrontation with a security guard on duty. We had spent most of the day at North Avenue Beach, and decided to walk through the Zoo to end our day. Lincoln Park Zoo is free and there are many gates where you can freely walk in. These gates have no signage indicating hours or any Zoo information. Blissfully ignorant, we walked into the park to enjoy the animals on display.

Only about half an hour in, a not-so friendly security guard began yelling at us ‘The park is closed!’ We really didn’t expect the Zoo to be closing when it did, but whatever. We kept walking through to begin finding an exit, and the guard kept yelling. ‘You can’t go that way! What are you doing? The park is closed!’ Not understanding why we couldn’t continue on, we kept walking. ‘Hey! That gate is closed!’ referring to a gate a few hundred feet away that we hadn’t even noticed. During all this yelling, she was following us like we were 5th graders on a field trip. After being thwarted by a locked gate, we really were lost for direction. Luckily, a patrolling police officer came to our aid, as he had witnessed some of our verbal beating.

In 10 seconds of conversation, the police officer was absolutely more helpful (and friendly) than the security guard had been for over a minute. The officer told us where exactly to exit the Zoo, and did not yell for going the ‘wrong way’.

So what does this have to do with business, and more importantly marketing? Well, during the guard’s yelling, my first reactions were actually thinking how uneffective her communication was. She offered no assistance, no insight to a solution, and basically had us going in circles. Sound like anyone’s marketing? Maybe customer service has acted this way before? The point being made here is to focus on your communications; is what you’re saying effective? Does it offer support, guidance and insight to a customer’s solution? If not, you may just be coming across as rude, ignorant or stupid, and your customers will go elsewhere without thinking.

I’ve been following Tony, the CEO of Zappos (Follow him on Twitter! @Zappos) for a little bit now, and he is a totally normal and cool guy. He is also a huge fan of Twitter and is a frequent updater, which might make one wonder how much CEO work is actually getting done, but nonetheless he sees value in Twitter. In fact, he is trying to convince the President of shoe maker Skechers to join Twitter.

Not being one to just jump into the great unknown, Mr. Skechers decided to run an experiment to experience the power of Twitter. Tony sent out a message to followers stating the first 10 people to visit the Skechers shop in Manhattan Beach, Cali and say “Zappos” would receive a free pair of shoes. Results of this experiment are still to be seen, but this is such a cool way to do business.

I love this for many reasons. First, what a super way to convince someone on the fence with real interaction and physical results, rather than the usual “Oh but there are 30 million users and growing at xyz%…”

Second, its instant consumer interaction. Twitter allows marketers an active audience that are more likely to respond to unique promotions.

Lastly, I just think its great how transparent companies can be if they embrace Twitter like Tony and Zappos does. His tweets aren’t corporate BS; he is funny, honest and actually enjoys the service.

Seth Godin is a marketing guru with a great blog. He knows his stuff, and what I like most is he often questions conventional marketing theory. I find his recent post to be inspiring and comforting:

Publishing your ideas… in books, or on a blog, or in little twits on Twitter… and doing it with patience, over time, is the best way I can think of to lay a foundation for whatever it is you hope to do next.

That is one of the premises of this blog. I created AdSponge in part to document my thoughts and ideas as I learn and grow and develop a career. Its good to know someone like Seth Godin agrees and even advocates this.

Baseball and beer go together like peas and carrots, peanut butter & jelly, and Cubs fans and agony. While watching the Cubs game come to an end yesterday, Coors Light sponsored a reader email question on the air. It got me thinking how the great domestic beer brands try to reach fans at all sporting events, and particularly here in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Budweiser and Bud Light are by far the most prominent brands inside and around Wrigley, due to some sponsorship agreements. Miller Lite has a large billboard on one of the right field rooftops, but is otherwise silent at Wrigley. And with the inclusion of a Coors Light sponsored segment of the on-air broadcast, all three major domestic brands are presented to consumers and fans of the Chicago Cubs. There will no doubt be advertising clutter, but how the brands use their promotions and placements will result in either engaged customers or wasted ad spending.

For me, I like customized marketing initiatives. For example, the custom Budweiser neon sign that resembles the historic front sign of Wrigley Field. Budweiser went beyond typical, corporate signage and customized that sign to appeal to Cubs fans. As a consumer, this shows me a higher level of fan acknowledgment and even brings a sense of closeness to such a large brewer like Budweiser.

To take this even further, the Miller Lite billboard that sits atop a right field rooftop changes nearly every home series to highlight rivalries or interesting aspects of the visiting team.