August 2008 Archives

I've written about Radiohead before: sort of recently about the digital download of In Rainbows; and much less recently (and much more succinctly) about their 2001 release, Amnesiac. Seven years ago I described them in five words: I still don't get it. At the time I was struggling with their first forays away from typical rock song structure, and an oft-overwhelming sense of doom and claustrophobia in their music and lyrics, when I could penetrate them at all. And, chiefly, not understanding how Kid A debuted at #1 on Billboard's charts the previous year. A colleague described Kid A at the time: the most nonlinear album ever to debut at number one. I had already basically dismissed, the OK Computer and Kid A, but I kept returning to them with each release. With Amnesiac, I finally really liked what I heard on a Radiohead album, though couldn't connect that album or any of the others with their superstardom stature. Radiohead don't play to the least common pop denominator of "American Idol."

In the years since my perplexed dismissal of their worldwide acclaim, I'm not sure I'm any closer to solving the riddle, or riddles. Their astounding success doesn't sum from the density, diversity and aural challenge of their output. Successive releases since Amnesiac (Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows) are something of a mash-up of the earlier guitar-driven albums and the experimental explorations of Kid A/Amnesiac. The music is at best modestly more accessible for a casual listener. Singer Thom Yorke's vocals, when not delivered at a near-mumble, are often buried in the mix. Sonic boundaries are pushed, most prominently by both Yorke and lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who also plays several other instruments, like rock band staples the glockenspiel, viola, and ondes Martenot. But hey, at least the song titles are uplifting: "We Suck Young Blood," "Bodysnatchers," "A Punch Up at a Wedding."

Coldplay it ain't. Nor does Radiohead traffic in the anthem sing-alongs of U2, the shy-boy relationship rock of Death Cab for Cutie, whatever is passing for "emo" these days, nor the acoustic styles of Jack Johnson. But the surfer-acoustic dude is the only other performer headlining as many summer festivals this year as Radiohead.

In between festival dates, the band rolled through Auburn, Washington, a suburban outpost about 35 miles from Seattle where I took in the Radiohead spectacle (and some pictures) with about 18,000 others who braved horrible weather and worse transit planning to get to the venue. And spectacle it was, with an intricate light show (environmentally friendlier LED, of course), roadies scurrying everywhere with instruments and gear, and video screens behind the stage projecting the band members from multiple angles, not all glamorous. We were treated to Yorke's schnozz and lazy eye up close and personal during "You and Whose Army."

Fortunately, the effects took a back seat to the music. When they wanted to, Radiohead provided a serious groove. Yorke was shadowbox dancing right from the opening number ("15 Step," the first track from In Rainbows) and a sizable chunk of the band's set was full of rollicking drums, prominent bass and ass-shaking rhythm. Notably, "There There" had guitarist Ed O'Brien and Greenwood bashing on snare kits. And there were plenty of songs at non hip-swiveling BPM that could have been concert momentum killers. The audience was rapt and chatter-free in my general vicinity. Outside of the lyrics themselves, there was no speechifying save for a brief mention of the WTO protest in Seattle a decade ago. Surprising, especially for a band both with its available bully pulpit and general against-the-grain stance. The politics were left to the merch table where Sigg water bottles and T-shirts made from recycled material were for sale.

I don't know that Radiohead will ever be an all-time favorite of mine, or even favorite in a moment of time. Sometimes I just need the simplicity of three chords and the truth. But I keep finding myself drawn in to the music with an interest in exploring and deciphering, though readily admit to being nonplussed at its road blocks as well. Radiohead's popularity remains a riddle for me. The mirror's still cracked. But it's seven years on and time to worry less about the mathematics of success and spend more time with the tunes.

[First of all, in the supremely unlikely event you are reading this thinking about getting a stock tip, I am -- in no way -- a financial analyst or financial professional of any sort.]
 
Last Wednesday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had an open forum for employees at the company's Seattle headquarters. This meeting was the day after 1000 jobs were cut at the company through layoffs and closing open headcount, and directly after the quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts. During his opening remarks before taking Q&A from employees, Schultz offered the opinion that Starbucks could be the next Apple. As I heard it, this was meant two-fold: first from a stock market valuation perspective and from a game-changing, corporate icon perspective. From a stock performance perspective, employees and shareholders are undoubtedly hoping that Schultz is right in thinking his company can mirror Apple's. To paraphrase what he said, the vultures were circling Apple not long ago, especially on Wall Street. The Apple Store idea was criticized and, generally speaking, their products had a small, though fiercely loyal audience, but wouldn't ever grow to the mainstream.
 
So much for expert predictions.
 
Since its launch on October 21, 2001, the iPod broke open the then-nascent category of portable MP3 players. More than 140 million iPods have been sold to date. Ditto the iTunes store which - arguably - single-handedly has led to a staggering drop in CD sales. Oh, and the Apple stores? To the best of my knowledge, I think they're still around.
 
The iPod has become the gateway drug, erm, product intro to Apple for most. And even though new electronic gadgets (laptop, mobile phone, etc) are a considered purchase, the opportunity for Apple is obviously vast. The mobile/PDA market is much more mature and trickier to navigate than the MP3 player market, but Apple has jumped into the deep end, and taken in a few gulps of water along with its strong kick. They may never make a serious dent in the desktop or laptop markets but any incremental inroads will be icing on the cake of their handheld (or clip-on or downloaded) sales.
 
What can Starbucks learn from Apple? And is Apple even the right model to emulate? Like Apple, Starbucks has its own fiercely loyal customer base. In the face of general mocking far and wide, people now order coffee and espresso drinks in sizes other than "small," "medium" or "large." As with Apple's central role the portable MP3 player market, Starbucks brought premium coffee and espresso and the notion of coffeehouse culture to mainstream America (and beyond).
 
With more than 15,000 stores, the math is easy to figure that tens of millions of people visit a Starbucks daily. So it seems the question is less one of finding the gateway product that will introduce millions of new customers to the brand who had limited prior exposure. (Just in case though, Starbucks has launched Vivanno, a smoothie drink, and Sorbetto, a primarily shaved ice beverage.) Please, is anyone unfamiliar with Starbucks? But instead, the comapny should focus on increasing the incremental opportunities. Make the once-a-week visitor come twice, make the morning coffee regular visit in the afternoon, sell more items from the pastry case or brewing equipment displays, etc.
 
The drive to reenergize the coffeehouse culture feels like the right one. The iPod, much as I use mine, is a solitary pursuit. See my white headphone cord, I'm in my own sonic world. The coffeehouse encourages conversation and engagement, beginning with the customer and barista interaction, and can extend to friends, family, colleagues, the strangers in line with you. Conversation leads to community that in turn can lead to loyalty/brand love which should equate to frequency and revenue. Community is a popular word around Starbucks today. The customer feedback site My Starbucks Idea has been a solid first step in this direction as are other efforts like the new volunteer initiative, V2V.

Starbucks should admire Apple; many companies do. But in terms of the King of Joe getting its mojo back and encouraging the purchase of mo' joe , it should focus less on creating the next the faux Italian drink name or logo iteration, and more on starting, fostering and continuing the conversation with and among its customers.