Starbucks Splits With Ad Agency

Last week, Advertising Age reported the unusual move by ad agency Wieden & Kennedy to drop Starbucks as a client. The story quoted founder Dan Wieden's platitudes about how such moves "just make sense" from time to time. Today, AdAge reports that it knows the "real reason" behind the decision: "Starbucks' micromanagement, waffling and shift to a jump-ball approach for future ad assignments."

At the center of all this, AdAge reports, is Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who one source says "does not appreciate advertising." That source is Rich Silverstein, a co-founder of Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which has represented Starbucks twice. Once an agency is hired, Silverstein said, it "has one foot out the door already," thanks to the unpredictable Schultz.

Given that Schultz built Starbucks from a single Seattle coffee shop into a worldwide chain mostly through word of mouth and simple ubiquity, his attitude toward traditional advertising may be understandable. Schultz returned as CEO in January to restructure the company, whose fortunes had been flagging in his absence.

Wieden & Kennedy has been Starbucks' lead agency for years. Given Starbucks' deep business problems, and the fact that it has made what AdAge calls "deep cuts" in its in-house marketing department, this might seem like a bad time for the company to lose its go-to agency.

But Starbucks has lots of options, and it can tap any one of the several agencies it has worked with over the years. The company says it won't designate a new lead agency, but will assign campaigns on a case-by-case basis.