Team 1 Marketing Plan

Over the weekend, a lot of time--and emails, and conference calls---were dedicated to our team-based marketing plan for alternative fuel vehicles. I'm happy to say that we've already put together a respectable draft our our portion of the marketing plan.

We were primarily responsible for the environmental scan, SWOT analysis, and market research section of the marketing plan. I think we found some good research/insights for other teams to carry on in their portions of the plan. It will be exciting to see the finished product!

Starbucks "Refreshers"

Starbucks recently announced a new line of energy drinks, Starbucks "Refreshers" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/starbucks-refreshers_n_1372285.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003). The low calorie energy drinks utilize fruit juice and green coffee extract.

It's an interesting move: Starbucks recognizes the demand for energy drinks, and while entering this market is still maintaining the overall image of health, quality, and premium coffee. This reminded me of our "Marketing Myopia" article, with Starbucks defining themselves as a part of the larger beverage market (than simply focusing on coffee).

This makes more sense than some of their other moves at expansion (which, has resulted in less than positive results in the past).