1.

Successful Products and services

1.1 StarBucks :
 Company: Starbucks
 Year introduced: 1971
 What it is: Beverage

Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery

reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. As the world's largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks is
seen to be the main representation of the United States second wave of coffee culture. As of early 2020,
the company operates over 30,000 locations worldwide in more than 70 countries. Starbucks locations
serve hot and cold drinks, whole-bean coffee, microground instant coffee known as VIA, espresso, caffe
latte, full- and loose-leaf teas including Teavana tea products, Evolution Fresh
juices, Frappuccino beverages, La Boulange pastries, and snacks including items such as chips and
crackers.

1.1.1 Why Starbucks is a success?

1. Best product: Since the time of their establishment, Starbucks focused on providing best
coffee all across the US. They used excellent and healthy beans and coffee to prepare their
product and focuses on customer’s health rather than price.

2. Brand Strategy: Branding has been one of the pivotal elements of Starbucks strategy over
many years. The company has invested significantly in creating a standardised look and feel of
its stores, merchandise and food and drinks. The Starbucks Siren logo is one of the most
recognisable logos in the world. The global expansion strategy has a key objective of recreating
the Starbucks experience in every new country the company enters.

3. Employee minded company: Starbucks has always been a very employee minded
company, it seems like the “I help you, so you help me” attitude. Great benefits, paid holiday,
free gifts, and good coffee are a few perks their partners get. When you have your employees up
to bat for you even in hard times you’re sure to stay on top which they’ve done for the last 40 or
so years.

4. Digital Marketing: The brand has a sizable social media and digital presence, which has
received renewed focus in recent years. This has been driven by the need to better engage with
customers and also be visible on platforms where target or future customers spend time online.
The brand has an active Facebook page, a Twitter account, Instagram page, a Google+
community, a Pinterest page and a video channel on YouTube.
 Conclusion: The Starbucks mission statement reads as “To inspire and nurture the human spirit
– one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time”. The company operates with a strong
sense of attention towards details, and replicating a consistent customer experience across all
its stores and its products is a critical focus area.

1.2 McDonald’s :
 Company: The McDonald brothers
 Year introduced: 1940
 What it is: Fast food

McDonald's Corporation is an American fast food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated

by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their
business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches
logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona.  Although McDonald's is best known for
its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, they feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft
drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts.

1.2.1 Why McDonald is successful?

1. Consistency: It doesn't matter if you're visiting a McDonald's in California or Connecticut,

America or Australia—you're going to have a similar experience wherever you are. This
highlights Ray Kroc's vision for McDonald's from the beginning. Consumers rely on
consistency and equal value regardless of the location and that is exactly what McDonald’s
provides them.

2. Cultural awareness: We can also contribute their success to their cultural awareness. For
example, in Thailand McDonald’s offers a “Samurai Pork Burger,” unique to the area. In
addition to their universal meals, McDonald’s has added some customized offers in almost
all of the countries they have entered into, adjusting to the local desires of the consumers
they serve.

3. Resiliency: Perhaps the biggest reason McDonald’s has been a success for so long,
however, is its ability to weather storms. Though the trajectory for McDonald's has been
primarily upward throughout its existence, the company has had to weather several
challenges and controversies. McDonald's has had many lawsuits and negative press
directed at it for various issues. How does McDonald's combat this negativity and not have
 it derail its operation? From an outside perspective, it appears that at least part of their
strategy entails acknowledging the concern or issue, then dedicating resources in-house to
staying on top of the issue.

4. Transparency: McDonald's has also taken some more steps towards transparency. Its
“Our food. Your questions.” campaign is designed to combat the negative stereotypes
McDonald's has picked up over the years, and allay the fears a number consumers have
about McDonald's food. Changes to the company's food practices such as declaring its
chicken antibiotic-free in the U.S., adding real butter to its breakfast muffins, and using
cage-free eggs has helped the chain garner positive customer feedback and bounce back
from bumps in the road.

Conclusion: Hence, McDonald's became the leader in the fast food industry with their strong
focus on customer service, response to competition, and use of marketing techniques early on in
their development.

1.3 Coca-Cola:
 Company: Coca-Cola
 Year Introduced: 1892
 What it is: Beverage

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation headquartered

in Atlanta, Georgia. The Coca-Cola Company has interests in the manufacturing, retailing and
marketing of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. They are veterans in this
business and they have shown us how consistent quality and outstanding marketing strategies
can keep one and the same product on the throne for decades.

1.3.1 Why coca-cola is successful?

1. Creativity: From their Product Package design to content they continually produce, Coca-
Cola as a company and brand strives to put their creative foot forward.

2. Simplicity: Throughout the decades and multitudes of marketing campaigns, Coca-Cola

has remained consistent when communicating one strong and effective message: pleasure.
Enduring, simple slogans such as “Enjoy” and “Happiness” never go out of style and
translate easily across the globe.
 3. A company, for people, by people: Despite its status as a global icon, Coca-Cola
understands that it has to find a way to speak to consumers at a more personal and local
level. Initially introduced in Australia, the company’s share a coke campaign has now
successfully expanded to over 50 countries. Each country’s offerings are customized to its
local culture and language, with the most popular names of each regions printed on each
cans and bottles. This personal human connection is integral to effectively brand the
company, turning it into an icon rather than simply a product.

4. Create a strong, visual identity: The visual simplicity of coca-cola manages to speak for
itself; we all know that coca-cola sells soda, but somehow their product label designs is
everywhere: from movie screens to t-shirts to hats to murals and beyond. In design, their
packaging design is both simplistic and eye-catching.

Conclusion: Hence, by making human connections, remaining innovative while staying true to simple
principles and creating branded experiences Coca-Cola has been an industry leader even after 125 years
in the field of beverages.

2. Failure Products and services

2.1 Google +: In 2011 Google launched its new social network Google+. However, it never lived up
to their expectations of becoming a Facebook competitor. It was a huge disappointment.

Reasons for failure:

 Believing its own mission statement: There is a curious disconnect between Google’s
mission (“organize the world’s information”) and what Google actually does to earn a
living (“finding stuff quickly, easily and elegantly”). Google’s mission statement is clear and
simple, but wrong. Unlike most mission statements, which are a jumble of words put
together by a committee, representing the lowest common denominator of what the
company does, and to which in any event no one pays any attention, Google’s mission
statement is a model of clarity and crispness.
   Listening to its employees, not its customers: Google has consistently failed to get to
heart of social. People prefer Facebook to Google+, fundamentally because Google’s
approach to social isn’t fun. The assumption of Google+, like Google Health and Google
PowerMeter, is that users would enjoy spending time organizing their information. Geeks
may like organizing their information but normal people don’t. Google keeps making the
same error over and over again, because it listens to its employees, ahead of its
customers.

 A frontal attack on an established network: A head-on challenge to Facebook was

inevitably unsuccessful. It was an attempt to displace a well-entrenched social network.
Even if Google had been able to figure out significant improvements on Facebook, which it
didn't, Facebook, as the incumbent network, could have quickly emulated them, thereby
eliminating any incentive for people to leave Facebook and join a new network,
particularly since all of their current friends and connections were on Facebook and not on
Google+.

 Failure to offer something genuinely new: The key to this approach is to identify a
segment of customers whose needs are not being met and generate more value for that
segment sooner. Health and energy might have been such opportunities, but Google
missed them because it was focused on the producing a thing that people didn’t want,
rather than delighting people, by solving a problem, perhaps a problem they didn't even
know they had. The key is to shift from a focus on producing things to a focus on
understanding and delighting people.

2.2 Apple Newton: The Newton was a personal digital assistant developed by Apple. It was the
first device to feature handwriting recognition. At first glance, the device was innovative but
was later discontinued because of problems with the handwriting recognition feature and a
high price tag.

Reasons for failure:

 Too much ahead of time: Newton was introduced to a society that was unfamiliar
with electronic devices so the customer requirements were uncertain. It was launched
when the internet was still in developing stages.

 Immature Technology: Since it was the first time handwriting recognition was
introduced, it had a lot of flaws which led to its rejection by the customers. Additionally,
the dictionary was very limited.
  Slow Development Cycle: Though they eventually improved the handwriting
recognition function, it was too late by then.

 Undeveloped Supply and distribution channel: The heavy software on Newton OS

required powerful processors and longlasting batteries which were unavailable at that
time.

2.3 Oakley Thump: In 2004 Oakley THUMP was launched as the first audio player built into
sunglasses. Weak sound, a high price (from $249 to $349) and the odd fashion design failed to
gain consumers interest.

Reasons for failure:

 The styling was not subtle, appealed to only a limited demographic and
was not compatible with most outfits and looks.

 People want to listen to their music/use their phone handsfree indoors

too, and not look stupid by wearing their sunglasses indoors too.

 The price was pretty high - $300 for something that would inevitably
become obsolete by better technology is different than spending $300 on
a pair of sunglasses with classic style that will remain wearable for years
to come.

 There were better headphones out there, and better sunglasses out there
- especially if you spent $200 on sunglasses and $100 on headphones, or
vice versa.