Starbucks ad campaign is bearish -- very bearish

Filed under: Competitive strategy, Starbucks (SBUX), Marketing and advertisingFor the first time, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) will be launching an ad campaign on national television. As the Wall Street Journal writes (subscription required), "The move could backfire. Despite the ubiquity of its stores, Starbucks still likes to think of itself as a collection of thousands of corner cafes that sponsor the local zoo and have baristas who know their customers' favorite drinks. Executives at Starbucks often say they built the chain by word of mouth and are proud of the fact that they made limited use of traditional media, long before 'stealth' and 'viral' marketing became the rage." Exactly. Investors should be extremely skeptical of this move. Generally, a company embarking on a strateg