The ever-present coffee chain is expanding its dominant position on the market by offering a range of beer and wine to its customers, alongside a wider choice of savoury nibbles such as flatbreads and cheese plates.

The move is intended to draw in a larger proportion of evening customers looking to relax after work.

Starbucks is currently testing the initiative at a series of select stores in Spain and the US, where Burger King is already experimenting with the sale of in-store alcohol.

There are no plans as yet to bring alcohol to UK shops, although it may be on the cards if schemes in other countries are successful.

More at: http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/starbucks-to-sell-wine#image-rotator-1

There are a lot of articles circulating about the benefits of mobile advertising. In fact, many companies and brands are embracing mobile advertising and seeing impressive results. However, the mobile advertising market hasn’t been cornered by one particular vendor and some are wondering if Facebook is going to join the mobile scene.

Facebook is recognized as one of the top social media sites. Plus, numerous businesses appreciate the advance targeting features that are available in Facebook such as demographics, interests, connections, etc.

Some would like to use these advanced settings to reach the mobile market. This means businesses would already be prepared to pay Facebook to reach their respective audience.

Another plus is that people use their cell phones to check on their Facebook accounts already, so it’s not like Facebook would have to entice anyone to go on their site via a mobile device. They also, have loads of mobile user data at their fingertips.

According to an article on CNET, “Facebook already has access to data of a large mobile user base”… Facebook says nearly half of its nearly 800 million users already log in via mobile devices, giving the network momentum in a market estimated to be worth $630 million.”

More at: http://socialmediatoday.com/dleitchmorevisibilitycom/432670/rumors-about-facebook-mobile

A Berkshire baker claims she has lost her entire year’s profits after posting a deal on money-saving website Groupon.

Rachel Brown, owner of bakery Need a Cake, advertised a 75% discount to the website’s subscribers but underestimated the demands she would receive. Marketing 12 cupcakes at a cost of £6.50 instead of the usual £26, Brown had to cut off the orders at 8,500 requests and ended up losing almost £3 for every batch she sold. 

The entrepreneur told The Telegraph: “As soon as we were making, packaging and sending the cakes out, we were on to the next order. It was non-stop.”

Normally producing around only 100 cupcakes per week, Brown was forced to take on additional staff to fill the orders, resulting in an extra £19,500 in shipping and labour costs.

Reflecting on the discount nightmare, the business owner added it was “without doubt, the worst ever business decision I have made”.

More at: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/business-trends/groupon-deal-wipes-out-cupcake-bakers-profits/38254

More at: http://www.boredpanda.com/20-more-creative-guerrilla-advertisiments/

Glamour’s September issue generated 50,814 Facebook “likes” for its advertisers by including 2-D barcodes incorporating the social network, according to the magazine and SpyderLynk, which created the new Social SnapTags that Glamour used.

Readers are encountering 2-D barcodes in magazines and elsewhere more and more often, but Glamour wanted to see whether codes invoking Facebook would spur more readers to action — and round up Facebook fans in the process.

Glamour ran the program to answer advertisers who were asking how to get more ‘likes,’ said Jenny Bowman, executive creative services director at Glamour, which is published by Conde Nast. “This seemed like a logical solution,” she said. “We loved what SpyderLynk had to offer with a Facebook logo in the circle that was different from other 2-D barcodes.”

The codes were activated by over 100,000 readers, or 4.2% of the issue’s paid circulation as filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s Rapid Report service and 0.8% of the magazine’s average total audience according to GfK MRI’s most recent round of research.

Readers interacted with the issue via its Social SnapTags 512,339 times, whether that meant scanning the codes with an app, taking a photo and sending it in, or taking subsequent actions such as agreeing to “like” an advertiser or article, signing up for the deal or sweepstakes being offered, or sharing the offer with friends.

“It was strong out of the gate and proved that readers wanted that print-mobile experience,” Ms. Bowman said. “And the numbers stayed strong over the month, not just in the first two weeks. The momentum continued. I think that had a lot to do with the sharing capabilities of the app.”

More at: http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/glamour-s-social-2-d-barcodes-performed-advertisers/230795/

Celebrity endorsements are set to be introduced to Google’s search results as part of a new advertising trial.

Christian Oestlien, Google’s head of social advertising, announced the trial at the SMX Conference in New York City and stated that celebrity endorsements will appear under paid search results during the testing process.

The new feature will work in conjunction with Adwords and will see products linked to famous faces. Currently the Kardashians and a few others have signed up.

A spokesman for the search engine said: “We’re always testing new ways to make advertising more compelling to our users and advertisers
“Some advertisers use celebrity endorsement in their ads. This test extends the option of celebrity endorsement to online campaigns.”

These endorsements will be shown in the sponsored ads at the top of Google+ pages in the US first. They will be rolled-out in the UK shortly afterwards.

More at: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/googletointroducecelebendorsements210911.mxs

According to a study of the future of poster advertising in the UK by media agency Kinetic Worldwide, digital out of home (DooH) media will increase its market share as a result of digital technology in the next 10 years. Consumers will also become accustomed to interacting with large numbers of smart posters.

It also predicts DooH’s total share of media will rise from £880m (2010) to £1.15bn by 2020. Digital revenues will reach almost £260m accounting for approximately 23 per cent of total out of home spend.

Kinetic has analysed industry data, consulted media and advertising experts and carried out new research to draw a series of conclusions including:

More than 100,000 digital posters will be visible in 30 major cities across the country, large numbers of ‘smart’ posters will be able to recognise whether you are male or female, your age, and even whether you are happy or sad will appear over the next five years.

Internet advertising revenues hit $7.3 billion in the first quarter, setting a new record, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reports.

The figure is a 23% jump over Q1 2010, which had been a first-quarter record as well.

In April, the IAB reported that online revenues for 2010 were $26 billion, a 15% jump over 2009, which had seen a 3.4% drop during the recession. The big category movers for the year included sponsorships, which grew 88%. Classified advertising also rose 15% over 2009. The lion’s share of digital advertising revenues continue to come from search, which accounted for 46% of such revenues last year.

The IAB didn’t outline how various categories within digital advertising performed in Q1 2011. The organization provides such data for six-month periods, not quarters.

The IAB doesn’t break out figures for Facebook’s share of the display advertising market, a $9.9 billion business in 2010. ComScore estimated that Facebook took 31.2% of all display ad impressions in Q1. ComScore doesn’t estimate revenues.

Facebook is to incentivise its users to watch sponsored videos embedded in games and apps on the platform by paying them in Facebook Credits, its virtual currency.