Starbucks: O for 2 With Movie Promotion

Starbucks president of entertainment Ken Lombard's mea culpa this past July about his company's previous promotion of Lionsgate's spelling bee movie Akeelah and the Bee seemed to indicate that the coffee giant had learned some valuable lessons from their disappointing first foray into movie marketing--strategies that they were going to put into place with their second venture, assisting Paramount Vantage and National Geographic Films with their nature documentary Arctic Tale. "We could have done a better job of letting our customers know why this is a film they should see," Lombard told the Wall Street Journal about their efforts with Akeelah, which ultimately earned $19 million theatrically.

With Arctic Tale, Starbucks, which has been hugely successful when it comes to the music biz, was again playing itself up as a cultural arbiter and promising studios a new point of access to its 44 million weekly customers (in return for their marketing muscle, Starbucks would collect a percentage of the movie's profits). They installed stickers and signage in its 6800 stores, had Arctic-branded cup sleeves, sold plush walruses, soundtracks, and even sponsored discussions about the climate change and featured material from the movie on their website. But their efforts hardly seemed to make an impact. Since it hit select theaters on July 25, the documentary has earned a meager $484,000. "We are still evaluating our Arctic Tale promotion, Lombard told Daily Variety. "Nonetheless, we are always looking to provide tangible customer experiences that educate and inspire discussion and go beyong the traditional marketing."

So why can't Starbucks get a buzz going? Couple thoughts. First, let's not forget that it's summer, and any studio/company is going to be hard pressed trying to make a small nature documentary (in a couple hundred theaters) rise above the sturm and drang of other heavily marketed blockbusters about daffy pirates, cartoon ogres, and cars that turn into robots. But there may be something else at play here, a certain hesistancy in Starbucks' approach. "With all of our entertainment options, we are careful to promote our products and projects in a tasteful manner and not interfere with a coffee house experience," Lombard told Variety. While that may work when trying to move Enya CDs that customers can buy at the counter, it obviously doesn't make much of an impression when promoting theatrical releases. When I had written about this deal before, I had (sort of jokingly) suggested that Starbucks be more aggressive and conventional in their marketing and create a themed frappuccino for the movie (I called it the "ice-blended, caramel-flavored Arctic Tale blast"). Coincidentally, Variety asked Lombard why he didn't try the same tactic. He said he didn't want to overtly commercialize the tie-in. But with Arctic Tale clearing less than half a million dollars at the box office, he might want to re-evaluate that position. Or maybe just stick to selling DVDs--they pushed a healthy number for Akeelah and plan to do the same forArctic.