Starbucks' New CEO & LinkedIn Confessionals

Brian Niccol is in for a challenge & vulnerable professional networking

Author

Sammi Cohen
August 17, 2024

Happy Saturday to my favorite readers in the world! Hope you all are having a ~demure~ weekend (I’m so sorry, I had to) and please make sure that you’re fully soaking in the rest of August.

Biz & Culture: Articles of the Week

Incoming Chief Executive Brian Niccol was hired this week (ex-Chipotle) to help get Starbucks out of their current rut. He’s going to attempt to fix the company’s sagging revenue and quell the noise from activist investors. Plenty of Starbucks’s challenges are unique to Starbucks, but others are beyond Niccol’s control. Inflationary pricing means that customers are pulling back from restaurants and other discretionary spending. There are plenty of other coffee options—especially in China, which Starbucks has targeted as a key growth market. Starbucks isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but I’m curious to see if the new CEO is able to turn things around in the shorter term.

In 2024, having a social presence as a founder is a non-negotiable. This guide by famed venture capital firm a16z walks through the basics for startup founders who are trying to build up their social media presence. Sections within this guide include identifying target audiences, knowing where to post and deciding what to post. I highly recommend spending time to go through it, especially if you’re trying to understand the rapidly-changing social media landscape and best practices.

Marketing agencies are now including new tools (of course, some have AI integrated in them) to allow advertisers to grade the so-called brand safety of social media influencers. They look at a variety of factors, and ultimately they assess the likelihood of an influencer discussing politics in the future (which most brands try to stay far, far away from). A new tool introduced by Captiv8, a marketing firm that connects advertisers such as Kraft Heinz with influencers, uses AI to analyze mentions of these influencers in online articles.

There is no denying the comeback of “mall” brands. They’ve regained shoppers’ trust & wallets again - and it’s for all of the right reasons. The popularity of Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap have proven that these brands have finally caught up to their customers: they’ve crafted apparel that feels “pleasantly adult”, but is still offered at an approachable price point. And Gap is crushing it with their many collaborations… in July, Gap dropped a 51-piece collaboration with boho-lite brand Dôen that sold out within minutes.

This app started in France as a way for consumers to easily understand the health impact of packaged food. Yuka is growing like crazy in the US now (and Gen-Z loves it); the primary usage in the US is actually focused on cosmetics, not food. You scan a product’s barcode and get a score out of 100, which is determined based on their algorithm that weighs medical studies and other sources the team finds trustworthy. The app is free to use, but advanced functions — like offline mode and the ability to look up products without a barcode — prompts users to pick an annual rate from $10 to $20. One of the co-founders said that they are seeing 20,000 new American users join each day.

Gen Z seems to be partly fueling the content shift on LinkedIn to more vulnerable content (although, I know we’ve all seen this shift happening for a while now, perhaps now it’s just more pronounced). Gen Z sees LinkedIn more like the original Facebook, which burst onto the scene in 2004 as a place to connect with friends and share photos, according to Adam Kail, founder of Harrison Gray Search and Consulting. The older crowd on LinkedIn is used to a more buttoned-up, business-first mentality. Gen Z’s approach is making them question their strategy.

We know that there’s been a feud between Epic Games and Apple for many years now, and Epic Games is finally striking back with their own product. Epic Games officially launched a rival app store for iOS in the European Union, and this is the first time Apple’s own App Store has had to face a serious rival. The Epic Games Store will initially offer Epic’s games for users to download onto their iPhones, with plans to start onboarding third-party developers’ games later this year.

Americans Like Drinking Less Than Ever

A new Gallup survey reveals a growing consensus that alcohol consumption might be detrimental to our health, with 45% of respondents believing that moderate drinking, defined as one or two drinks daily, is harmful. That’s a larger share than the 43% who think it makes no difference, and the (diminishing) group who view moderate drinking as healthy — a stark contrast to the attitudes of the early 2000s.

The changing perception is particularly pronounced among younger generations. A whopping 65% of 18 to 34-year-olds — a demographic once synonymous with heavy drinking — now believe moderate drinking is harmful. That’s significantly more than the 39% of those aged 55+ who share this view, and it’s opening new markets for no- or low-alcohol drinks companies like Athletic Brewing, which was recently valued at $800 million.

So many things. Large studies, including one highlighted in the NYTimes this week, as well as the rise of health-focused media, such as the Andrew Huberman podcast, are talking up the dangers and damage that alcohol can cause — as are the changing demographics of younger generations. Read the full article here.

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xx Sammi

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