By definition, coffee is a drink prepared by roasting the seeds inside of the Coffea plant. However, today coffee practically means the world to some of us. It is perhaps the love of our life; some of us just can’t live without it. Being able to wake up in the morning and have a cup of coffee before heading to work-it feels so alive. We all know it’s the caffeine this does this to us, but we all know caffeine is not good for us. However, we still let it take over us and control our needs. In this generation, coffee has replaced water.

Starbucks Coffee is a well known coffee shop in America. However, drinking their coffee could mean taking in an average of 21mg of caffeine per fluid ounces. To stay healthy, adults are supposed to have no more than 400mgs of caffeine a day. That means, 20 fluid ounces and that’s it. One grande at Starbucks should keep us on the safe side. However, most of us don’t just have one coffee a day. We go for seconds, thirds, and possibly even fourths. Most of us are addicted to caffeine.

Now let’s take a look at tea. The Tazo tea at Starbucks average to less than half of what coffee has; it provides about 9mg of caffeine per fluid ounces. Another thing is, herbal tea contains little to no caffeine at all. We can go back for a few more cups of tea and we still wouldn’t reach the limit. Although tea contains less caffeine, drinking too much is not recommended because they come with their own side effects.

Each tea comes with their own benefits; although most of their benefits may be similar. For the most part, depending on what type of tea it is, it can improve brain functions, decrease the chance of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, relief stress, strengthen bones, aid weight loss, improve skin, aid digestion, relief cramps and spasms, and act as a sleep aid. That means, drinking tea can make one smarter in some ways. Drinking tea is beneficial for many organs, especially the heart. It can help others relax, not stress, and not go through depression. Less caffeine in tea means less sugar and a lesser change to get type 2 diabetes.

Last but not least, tea can act as a sleep aid. Coffee can lead to insomnia. Drinking tea, on the other hand, can cure insomnia. Obviously, it depends on the type of tea and the person’s body.

“Mum, I don’t know why you don’t just get the app on your phone,” my daughter Heather, said to me, as I handed the Starbucks Barista my gold card.

“Because I like human interaction much better,” I said. “I don’t like that they keep trying to shove more and more technology down our throats.”

“Suit yourself. But I’m telling you, it’s so much more convenient, and you don’t even have to wait in line anymore!”

That conversation rang in my ears one morning as I was running late to my writing class. I’d been anticipating treating myself to a chai latte with soy for days, knowing I was coming back to my old stomping grounds in Boston. I missed the days when Heather worked at the Starbucks on Berkeley and Boylston Streets–when they would start making my drink as soon as they saw me walk through the door. I missed the days when I would get my drink comped, and written on the side of the cup would be, “Mom, have a nice day!” Even if Heather wasn’t there. That was the day I heard Heather’s voice in my head, and I broke down and got the stupid app.

I parked my car, and hurriedly walked down the street. I winced as I saw the long line at the counter, since I was not sure how the app thing worked. Just as I poked my head over the counter to ask, I spotted a sign that said “Mobile Order Pick-ups” and sitting right beneath it was a drink with my name. That was easy! I thought, as I headed to class. But when I took the first sip, I knew it wasn’t made with soy milk. I frowned, but kept on walking, irritated that they screwed up my order.

The next time I was in town for a class, I tried it again, with the same result. Why do they keep leaving out my soy? I hate real milk!

I used the exercise we were given in class, as an excuse to kill two birds with one stone. We were told to go out and interview someone and observe our surroundings. But I had an agenda, and I knew what I had to do.

“Excuse me,” I said to the Starbucks Barista who was stocking the cold shelf with fruity pre-made drinks, her blonde hair pulled tightly back into a neat bun. “Can you help me with my app? I keep ordering my chai drink with soy, but I never seem to get soy.”

“Well it’s a good thing you aren’t lactose intolerant!” she said with a laugh. “Let me take a look,” she said, reaching for my phone. I watched as she quickly navigated around my favorites in the app. An unfamiliar tune played in the background and made me want to tap my foot, as another man approached.

“Oh, I’m not in line,” I said, as I stepped aside to let him pass.

“Oh no, I’m waiting for her,” he said, waving his hand toward the Barista, who was nose deep in my phone. I noticed the man was holding a black plastic disk about the size of a quarter, and I wondered what it was.

Another man approached carrying a cardboard tray with two drinks and an empty cracked plastic Starbucks mug. Again, I indicated that I was not in line.

“Oh, I need her,” he said. Apparently I’ve started something here.

“Wow, everyone needs you today,” I laughed.

After some time, the Barista was able to delete my old “favorite” and loaded up a new one that clearly said soy.

“That’s so weird, I know I selected soy when I ordered it,” I said, and then graciously thanked her for her help. I stepped away, and noticed the man with the disk quickly handed it to her and started for the door.

“That’s all you had to do?” I asked, amazed at his patience and feeling bad that I’d taken so long with this suddenly sought after Barista.

“Yup” he replied with a smile, and walked out.

Since I didn’t use my app this time, I stood in line and decided to try the new Pink Drink.

I sat drinking the bright fuchsia drink at the bar, observing the customers, and taking notes, when an attractive Asian woman approached and asked me what my drink was.

“Despite the fact that it looks like Pepto-Bismol, it’s actually quite tasty,” I said.

Hmm, I wonder if I’ll start another trend today, and soon there will be a trail of Pink Drinks leaving the store. I noticed the long line as people waited for their drink orders, and I wondered, What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they have the app?

Life’s Journey; Berkshires to Boston and everywhere in between…

Not every seduction guide discusses how to pick up women during the daytime, but it’s extremely important. It’s the same game, but with slightly different rules. A great daytime tactic for pick-ups is the pre-opener.

Pre-openers work really well with daytime pick-ups because women during the daytime aren’t always in social mode. They may even be so preoccupied with what they’re thinking or doing that they won’t hear you. She may be just on autopilot.

First, you’ve got to get her into a talkative state. A good way to do this is to ask her a question that only a jerk would ignore. For example, ask her where there’s an ATM or Starbucks around here. Launching straight into something more complex is probably going to confuse her and take her off-guard in a bad way. The pre-opener’s function is to get her paying attention and being social.

After the pre-opener, you want to transition to the actual opener. After she answers your question, what do you do next? It should be something that naturally flows from the pre-opener. For example, at the coffee shop, ask the girl to watch your stuff while you go to the bathroom. When you come back, say something like, “Did anybody try to steal it?” When she answers that nobody did, you can say, “And if they did, you would’ve beaten them up, right?” Then tell her that she’s your new bodyguard and give her a high-five.

The idea is to use a little role play to get her into conversation with you. You’re not at the point where you can ask her a question, ask her name or tell her she’s cute.

For the example of asking her directions, you could do something like this: ask her where something is and when she answers you, tell her, “Great, you’re my new assistant. I’m going to give you a little office and you’re going to speak with a fake British accent, and I’ll need you to start lining stuff up for me immediately because, as a writer, I’m super-busy.”

In addition to the other advantages of your role-play, you’ve told her a little bit about yourself. At this point, she’s either going to play along or she’s going to just give you a polite smile, at which point you move it on to something else.

So, with the day game, the idea is to give her a pre-opener first. She’s going to feel weird if you launch in with anything direct. Then, follow it up with a role play. This is a great tactic that no other seduction guide mentions for picking up girls during the day.

Do you know what Burger King, Wendy’s, Blockbuster Entertainment and Starbucks have in common? Well, I worked with all of them while their respective founders were still in charge and each of those founders were dynamic visionaries with an obsession on winning and execution.

I began my career in 1972 as an Project Engineer for Burger King Corporation, in Miami. My contribution was to implement a Labor Scheduling System for store managers which improved the proficiency for each store employee, created a much improved store layout and improved the overall sales-to-labor productivity. Years later, I became the first Vice President of Architecture and Construction where we designed all of our store configurations for maximizing our peak-hour capabilities (Customers per Minute). We focused our performance on our Sales-To-Investment Ratio and maximizing our store level profit because that was the common ground for company and franchise restaurants.

In 1981, I joined Wendy’s during their tenth year. Over the next nine-years, we opened thousands of new restaurants. During their peak growth years, Wendy’s opened over 500 new stores per year. Internally, the health of our system was not only gauged on the stock price and earnings per share – we were focused on the profitability at store level because that was the common ground we had between the Company-owned and Franchise-owned restaurants. We knew that if our franchisees were making more money – they would build more stores. If the company stores were making more money – we would report higher earnings and everybody would win. Our Wendy’s franchisees were a critical barometer to how we were doing. We had Two-Commandments regarding our franchisees.

1. Never give a franchisee the simple privilege of paying more royalty without any incremental flow-through profit.

2. We don’t make money on royalty income. We only make money when the franchisee is building more restaurants and that won’t happen if you violate Commandment #1.

Our entire Senior Management Team at Wendy’s was committed to constantly improving the External Guest Experience by focusing on the Internal Guest (most companies call them employees). Dave insisted on quality food, quick service and clean restrooms. To all of us, Dave Thomas was more than our founder and spiritual leader. He was also Wendy’s dad.

In 1990, I joined the Wayne Huizenga’s group at Blockbuster Entertainment, when we only had 900-stores open. During the next seven years – we never opened less than 700 new stores in any given year and when I left, we had 6,500 stores operating. That growth was due to company-owned and franchise-owned stores earning more money than they were expecting. Our entire Senior Management Team was focused on improving the “movie knowledge” so our store associates could match our members to the movies that they would like. Once again, the health of our system was gauged by the store level profits for our company and franchise stores for the same reasons mentioned earlier.

My time at Starbucks was a short one, but when I joined the Howard Schultz team at Starbucks Coffee Company, we had 250-stores operating in the US and had just completed opening 100-new stores the previous year. We were going to begin to reproduce the West Coast success on the East Coast and we opened 150-new stores in 19-months, always focusing on delivering The Starbucks Experience to every Guest, every day in every store. We did that by focusing on the job enrichment and training that we provided to all of our Store Partners (most companies call them employees). All of our growth was through company-owned stores, but store-level earnings were the key to what has become a very successful, quality brand.

What do all three of these brands have in common? How did they facilitate their “exponential growth” plans? Obviously, all three brands had access to “publicly traded” funds – but their successful growth rates were far more attributed to other commonalities.

All three brands had a point of difference from their competitors. They differentiating and exploiting that difference against the industry, while hiring and training the “internal customer” dedicated to exceeding the expectations of the “external customer”.

Equally important to an exponential growth strategy is never build new stores beyond your ability to develop a quality staff to operate them. In all 3 of these companies, we had a “people-plan” as part of our “asset-plan” for growth. In fact, growing pains are simply the result of growing a business faster than your ability to operate.

Never expand by transferring experience managers into your new operation unless you are guaranteed that there is competent management to replace them. To do otherwise, you will experience “profitless-prosperity” – or negative-same-store-sales while you are growing exponentially.

Regardless of your industry, your customers are most essential to your business success and your ability to survive during a good economy and the poor economic times. Constantly upgrade your staff, especially during periods of economic slowdowns because if you are focused on outstanding customer service, mediocrity is most apparent when sales begin to slide.

The other day, I was sitting with a group of college students at Starbucks, we were discussing startup businesses. They were brainstorming of what type of business to start. A guy in an ice cream truck pulled up and the driver ran into Starbucks. I joked as he ran by, “don’t you sell any coffee flavored ice cream?” Everyone laughed as did the driver as he briskly rushed the door open and ran in. “Maybe he is just using the restroom?” We all laughed again, and then saw him get pick-up his pre-made coffee he must have ordered with his smart phone Starbuck’s app.

As he was leaving he told us while we sat at the outdoor table that he did sell coffee flavored ice cream. I asked if I could buy a round of ice cream for the group. He apologized and said; “Today, I am delivering Amazon Packages, as a delivery contractor, my brother is using all his vans, so I am helping out, we are really busy – Prime Day Delivery!” Everyone was intrigued, and he broke into a stride saying; “Chow” as he left, and he turned on the music for us as he drove away. What a cool small business owner. We all laughed again, he was so busy he just needed more caffeine to finish his hectic day.

Our group then went back to brainstorming on what a smart business might be for a startup. I laughed and said: “Hey, you have to be observant, we just saw a guy in a friggin’ ice cream truck delivering online packages because they didn’t have enough vans or people to help, that means there is demand in the market not being met.” I started asking them a series of questions:

– How could you deliver more efficiently?

– How could you streamline the delivery business model?

– How could you revolutionize the package delivery business?

– How could you find other underutilized vehicles and people to deliver?

And, then I reminded them that Amazon now has a market value of $1 Trillion. I asked them about other observations they just had?

– Why can’t that ice cream man deliver Starbucks?

– Why not start a drone business to deliver Starbucks and Amazon?

– Why not figure out how to solve those delivery challenges with software, apps, drones, combination?

I reiterated; “Let’s face it, you know there is unfulfilled demand in the marketplace for new delivery companies and better options when you see an Ice Cream truck delivering online packages as an Amazon Contractor.”

I explained that you have to observe everything and think. I explained that we can’t be too busy here brainstorming that we stop observing, the clues are everywhere, right in front of our noses. If you are at a loss for ideas, look around, read the newspaper, listen to people complain, think about things that would make problems go away for people – then try to come up with solutions for these challenges – solutions that you can make a profit in providing.

You would never set a physical meeting for “Sometime Tomorrow Afternoon.” Don’t do it on the phone unless you want to play phone tag. Send people this article if they don’t get the message!

Have you ever had trouble getting together with someone on the phone? If your experience is anything like mine, this has happened to you many times in your life. You call someone and leave a message and they do the same and sometimes it happens 8 or 10 times back and forth before you finally are both available at the same time. Many of us call this phone tag. Would you like phone tag to happen a lot less often or maybe even close to never?

By way of comparison, let’s think about what happens when we plan to meet someone in person. We communicate in person or on the phone or over Skype or even through email (or snail mail!) in order to set up a time when we will meet at Starbucks, for example. We decide on a definite time and we meet there. Most of the time these meetings come off without a hitch. (For you sticklers, I don’t consider someone being 5 minutes late a “hitch”.) Sometimes one person or the other messes up and the meeting starts really late or the meeting doesn’t happen.

Here’s what NEVER happens:

Lucille calls Paul and says “Let’s meet at Starbucks tomorrow.” Paul says “When is a good time for you?”

Then Lucille replies “Sometime Tomorrow Afternoon.” Paul answers “Sounds good to me. See you there!” The next day Paul goes to Starbucks (which is next to Barnes and Noble) and sits down with a book at 12:01 and waits for Lucille to arrive. Paul waits patiently until 3:15 when Lucille shows up and they have their happy and productive meeting.

Have you ever done what Paul and Lucille did? Me neither.

Yet many people operate that way with the telephone (or Skype and the like) ALL. THE. TIME. Do you like playing phone tag? (I don’t either so I prefer to keep it to a minimum with friends and family only!) What do you do about it? One solution: make a phone appointment.

You would never set the time of an in-person meeting for “Sometime Tomorrow Afternoon.” So don’t do that with phone calls.

Use these to get to an agreement:

What time is good for you? Or, I have these three times available – which one works for you?

Or even, why don’t you let me know two or three times when you’re available and I’ll pick one?

If you have someone who is seems reluctant to set a meeting time over the phone, tell them about Paul and Lucille. Better yet, email them this article.

A counter-intuitive strategyresults in enhanced sales and high margins, often because people are willing to pay a premium for normal, regular goods and services. In his bookPredictably Irrational,professor, author Dan Ariely provides experiments to show people’s irrational behavior as they spend. Ariely says most people don’t know what they want unless they see it in context. That’s why some firms provide the framework for irrational spending with counter-intuitive strategies. Consider aspects of Costco, Starbucks,and Apple’s strategies.

Counter-Intuitive Strategy

At Costco, people pay an annual membership fee for the “privilege” of shopping-to spend! This counter-intuitive strategy generates the bulk of Costco’s profits. Still, most businesses haven’t been able to copy it.

Starbucks’ coffee demands a premium. Why? Starbucks’ doesn’t merely sell coffee and other products. Indeed, Starbucks’ strategy is to provide the “Third Place” for folks to gather: home, work, Starbucks. Why do people pay so much to consume products and hang out at Starbucks? One reason is Starbucks doesn’t mind if you stick around and buy nothing. Starbucks knows enough people will spend. And the longer folks stay in the location, the higher the probability they will spend. Starbucks is not only selling coffee and other products but creating a gathering environment-an excellent counter-intuitive strategy!

Apple charges a premium for newly released phones (and other products) that do not make existing phones obsolete in the short-to-medium terms. For example, iPhone X bought last year is in perfect condition today and will function well with Apple’s new operating system,IOS 12. Nevertheless, Apple upgraded iPhone X; confident folks will pay a premium for virtually the same product they bought one year earlier.

Strategy Is About Choices

For a firm to take advantage of a counter-intuitive strategy, it must realize that strategy is about choices of what it plans to do, and what it won’t do to reach and retain customers. That’s it! It’s not about growth as so many businesses state. It’s the strategy that will cause growth or decline. Growth, per se, is the result of the strategy. Developing a proper counter-intuitive strategy starts with a basic knowledge of attitudes and insights of your existing and likely customers and target markets.

Regularly, firms must use validated market research tools and techniques to stay close to economic, social, and market environments to understand developments affecting prospective customers.

Counter-Intuitive Strategy Isn’t Enough

A counter-intuitive strategy isn’t enough. A firm must apply counter-intuitive thinking as it examines its ongoing business activities to develop value creation solutions that do not diminish customer care. For example, managing working capital requires counter-intuitive thinking. People would not expect the ideal inventory level to be zero. But it is! To be sure, the uninitiated would think a firm would be better off with lots of inventory so it would eliminate the possibility of being unable to fulfill an order. Just-in-Time inventory systems are popular because holding inventory represents cash tied up and not available in the rest of the business. The faster inventory turns, the better. Effective working capital management is crucial to a business’ success.

It is counter-intuitive but an excellent business practice to put properly trained and intrinsically motivated frontline workers in right jobs, remove direct supervision, and empower these workers to serve customers. This approach will create more value in the business than a hierarchical system with un-empowered, poorly trained employees with lots of supervision. That’s why Southwest Airlines and FedEx and others put people first and customers second.

© 2018 Michel A Bell

A recent Washington Post article discussing the effects of various foods on heart health identified the greatest health risk of coffee to be weight gain from blended coffee beverages packed with empty calories from sugar and dairy fat.

Lately, it seems the creator and biggest purveyor of the beverages has been trying to rise above criticism they’re as guilty as McDonalds and other fast food chains for contributing to high rates of obesity and diet-related diseases.

Along with introducing oatmeal to its menu, Starbucks published guides to “20 Drinks Under 200 Calories” as well as “Favorite Foods Under 350 calories” on its website. Unfortunately, Starbucks plays down the healthiest beverages (full-leaf teas, brewed coffee, espresso, caffe Americano, etc.) which all have under 10 calories. For example–if you’ve grown tired of Pike Place Roast–I bet you didn’t know you can order any beans Starbucks carries be prepared with a French-press?

Adding milk or cream and sugar to brewed coffee is so commonplace among Starbucks’ U.S. customers, the baristas “leave room” for milk in the cup by default. No wonder hard-core coffee drinkers (those who know the difference between an ibrik and a v60) don’t take the chain seriously, especially after it introduced the lightly-roasted Blonde coffee (now its most popular), further blurring the line with pedestrian coffee.

Of course, only Starbucks’ pure coffees/teas and those made with soymilk–instead of dairy milk–are of any interest to those on a whole foods plant-based diet (those who haven’t given up caffeine, at least).

According to Starbucks U.S. website, a tall-size (12 fl oz/355 ml) whole milk contains 240 calories and 13g of fat. Its custom-blended soymilk contains more calories and saturated fat than skim milk (210 calories and 6g fat vs. 140 and 0g) and even slightly more calories than low-fat* milk (200). However, soymilk contains no cholesterol (vs 5g for non-fat milk) and does contain fiber, a beneficial nutrient found only in plant-based foods.

*Nutritional values may vary, as low-fat milk is created by the barista in each store mixing whole milk and non-fat milk.

Ironically, many omnivores substitute soymilk for dairy milk because they believe it’s healthier, or for the taste and variation, while still topping their beverage with dairy whip cream. Even if you question whether soymilk is a healthier or safer alternative to cow’s milk, I would still choose soymilk for the humane aspects alone.

Starbucks “Delicious Drinks” list contains 3 cold drinks and 5 hot drinks that are vegan-friendly:

• Shaken Tazo Iced Passion Tea–0 calories
• Shaken Tazo Iced Black Tea Lemonade–100 calories
• Iced Coffee (with classic syrup)–60 calories
• Brewed Coffee–5 calories
• Brewed Tazo Tea–0 calories
• Caffe Americano–10 calories
• Steamed Apple Juice–170 calories
• Soy Chai Tea Latte–170 calories

As long as you hold the whip cream, the soymilk-based mocha-, coffee- and espresso Frappuccinos come in under 200 calories, too. Some other vegan-friendly beverage offerings (in order of increasing calories) are:

• Soy Cafe Misto (brewed coffee with steamed soy milk)–80 calories
• “Dry Cappuccino” (reduced steamed milk, more foam)–below 90 calories
• Full-Leaf Soy Tea Lattes–140 calories
• Soy Latte–150 calories
• Soy Caramel Macchiato–180 calories
• Soy Caffe Mocha–200 calories (no whip)
• Soy hot chocolate–200 calories (no whip)

To reduce calories further, ask the barista to reduce or eliminate syrups (20-25 calories per pump). For example, a tall drink generally contains 3 pumps of syrup, so you may ask for 1 or 2 pumps instead. And if you omit any drizzled sauces on top, you’ll save about 15 calories, too.

In fact–except for that rare special occasion (your birthday, a lunar eclipse, etc.)—your best option is sticking to straight coffees or teas. Assuming you’re serious about coffee and tea, why cover the taste with milk and sugar?

By the way–if you’re watching calories–always be prepared to refuse samples of new food and drink items offered. If not, you may consume a lot more calories than you intended. I understand first-hand that it’s easy to drink or eat something on impulse. Or, if you want to allow yourself to try a sample and it satisfies your sweet tooth (or calorie limit), you may want to just turn around and head out the door.

I was pleased to learn from Starbucks’ interactive nutrition guide the food menu included a few vegan-friendly items, including the aforementioned oatmeal (140-340 calories, minus sugar) and fruit salad (80 calories). I’d recommend you stick with one of these, or a piece of fresh fruit (banana or apple), where available. I do have to question the company’s claim that it has a lot of “smart choices” and it’s possible to “eat sensibly” just because some foods contain under 350 calories.

On the bright side, Starbucks’ recent acquisition of Evolution Fresh (cold-pressed juice company) is an encouraging sign the chain is taking steps toward the healthy high-road. I hope you will join me in requesting the company expand its selection of nutritious whole plant-based and organic foods and drinks, too.

Many people have become familiar with Tazo Tea through their relationship with Starbucks coffee. The tasty and stylish tea has gained in notoriety and is now available in most fine food stores as well as exclusively through Starbucks Coffee. Many Starbucks even sell a bottle variety of Tazo Tea’s cold drinks line. Of those who have become accustomed to enjoying a hot cup or even cold bottle of a flavor of Tazo Tea, few know the interesting history behind the company.

Believe it or not, Tazo has only been around since 1994; a very brief time for a company to rise to such prominence in the beverage world. Tazo Tea was founded by Steve Smith, who retired from Tazo in 2006. Mr. Smith co-founded the company with Stephen Lee, who still remains with them today. Tazo was an offshoot of their original venture, Stash Tea Company which was founded in 1972. In 1998, while seeking capital for his business through investors, Mr. Smith approached Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as a potential suitor. Schultz became so enamored with Tazo, that in 1999, Starbucks purchased them in 1999 for $10.8 million.

Tazo’s success many like in their product vision. They utilize a unique approach to marketing their product. Instead of a traditional product logo and branding, they use a new age style. Each bag of tea is said to be blessed by a ‘certified tea shaman’. This very original approach allowed Tazo to gain much popularity in the tea market which is filled with many giant corporations. Of course, they aren’t all looks. The flavor of their teas is unrivaled. They use a special variety of teas and blends that allow the fullest flavor to be extracted from the tea leaves. Even now, Starbucks is switching their tea bags from Tazo’s old formula to their new one which contains full tea leaves. Tea drinkers will be delighted with the burst of flavor from the new type of tea bag.

Tazo has always prided itself on being the best tea maker around. Their vision has always centered upon the quality of their product. It is the reason Howard Schultz, a man who knows a thing or two about hot beverages, bought the company only months after being introduced to their product. Thankfully, the purchase allowed Tazo Teas to be introduced to millions of people across the country and even the world.

“Addiction Marketing” is a phrase I coined a few years back while waiting in line for my drink at Starbucks. I was observing the mass of people who like lost explorers in the desert rushing for an oasis seemed to be desperate for their daily (if not more frequent) fix of caffeine. It was at that moment that I realized that one of Starbucks key business drivers, if not their most critical business driver, was that Starbucks sells products that cater to peoples addictive tendencies. What Starbucks has done better than many other addictive marketers is that they also make it cool and trendy to succumb to your addiction. In today’s blog post I’ll examine addiction as a key success factor in business.

When I was in school economics professors would lecture on using supply and demand drivers to create a business advantage…business professors would evangelize the strengths of the recurring value and stability of consumable products…marketing professors would espouse the benefits of relationship marketing, but nowhere do I recall being able to register for a class on addiction. However if you think about “Addiction Marketing” you’ll quickly realize what the “media pushers” on Madison Avenue and the product development and marketing gurus in the corporate world have known for years…all people have their unique set of vulnerabilities that if creatively and effectively exploited will lead to strong sales and powerful brands.

If you read the business news over the weekend you’ll have noticed that the Indian government is attempting to force Coca Cola and Pepsi to divulge the formulas to their popular beverage products. One of the charges being upheld in the Indian High Court is that Coke and Pepsi products are addictive and unhealthy…Hmmm…Examine the following representative list of successful businesses and/or industries and come to your own conclusions as to whether these businesses or industries prey on the addictions of consumers world-wide to generate their revenue:

Las Vegas – The tagline “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” caters to virtually every possible addiction under the sun…Sin City lives up to its reputation.

Tag Body Spray – Tag’s recent commercial campaign has taken the phrase “Sex Sells” to a whole new level…In this campaign all an adolescent male needs to do is to spray himself with the Tag product and he finds himself instantly being attacked by hordes of attractive young women…If you have a teenage son, it would be a safe bet that Tag is his cologne of choice.

The Beer and Alcohol Industry – You will be hard pressed to find a beer or alcohol company that doesn’t portray consumption of their beverage as the key ingredient to a lifestyle of fast cars, beautiful women, successful careers, etc.

The Tobacco Industry – The tobacco industry has been publicly hammered for selling products that leverage the addictive effects of Nicotine and even with all the known health hazards smokers face, in many instances the addictive nature of the product is greater than peoples ability to make a logical decision.

I don’t think anyone will dispute the examples noted in the above list as obviously preying on consumer’s addictive tendencies. However what about the more subtle side of the addiction business? Isn’t Starbucks using the same addictive business tactics as those industries listed above? What about companies in the luxury products sector? Companies that sell high end products and services cater to the elitist attitudes of this segment allowing consumers to make statements about their socioeconomic status based on the products they purchase. Is this not also catering to addictive tendencies?

OK, now I’ll hit a little closer to home…What about my company’s value proposition? We sell success…Is it not possible to look at success as being an addiction? How about the social networking industry? Are social networkers and bloggers addicted to the interaction, attention, etc. that the new media platform affords? While I could go on, I think my point has been made…I’m certainly not implying that all consumers are addicts, nor am I implying that all companies are “pushers”, but I am pointing out that addiction marketing sells and that many companies use this as a strategic advantage. In fact, I believe the evidence is clear that a business can create a strong strategic advantage in sustainability if they find no ethical flaw in what I’ve coined as “Addiction Marketing”.

The bottom line is that I love to travel and watch movies and I don’t think it makes me an escapist…I have a penchant for Starbucks (venti caramel frappacinos in particular) and I don’t think I’m a caffeine addict, I appreciate the fine clothes and quality automobiles and I don’t believe that makes me a social elitist. However I have also come to realize that my perceived addictive tendencies are clearly attempting to be preyed upon by creative and intelligent marketing and product development efforts. I’ll leave you with the following questions to ponder:

What is the difference between pleasure and addiction?

Do you feel “Addiction Marketing” is ethical?

Does your company partake in addictive marketing strategies and tactics?

And, when was the last time you made a purchase based upon your addiction?