Election 2008 - My Political Blog Journey

Making the cover page of Salon Magazine's Open Salon on election day 2008.
"Talking to the Venti Voters"














Making the Most Read article list on election day 2008

Starbucks Post for "In Your Face" Column

This picture above was created and is property of businessweek.com. The comment below was the original comment posted on businessweek.com's website for an article called "How to re-energize Starbucks". After posting this comment, businessweek.com selected this comment for their "In Your Face" feature for readers. Businessweek.com is moving quickly to become a website which is embracing its readers and engaging them in conversation.

andrew kaplan Feb 21, 2008 4:11 PM GMT
Starbucks ideas
1. Focus on a niche for non-coffee drinkers as well such as moms with small kids. They have organic apple juice,milk and also really their cream based frappucinos are really close to milk shakes..(no caffeine)..

2.They also should get rid of the merchandising and focus on teaching the customers about coffee. Most customers and coffee drinkers do not realize each coffee is paired with a cake/food they sell and can eliminate the need for pouring milk and sugar into regular coffee as it sweetens the taste. Many of their bold coffees have better taste when paired with chocolate.

3. They really should have some type of community bulletin board in all stores.

4. They should have a permanent counter with stools and a barista teaching...and attracting single customers.

5. They should hire "public speaking baristas" who can go out to the community

6. GO GREEN - Have real mugs and encourage use of travel cups (give a large discount to "Green Customers".

Businessweek.com - "In Your Face"

This week was an amazing media week. A comment I wrote about how to re-energize Starbucks was featured at the top of Businessweek.com's new In Your Face page which was added to their home page yesterday. They created this picture.

I also had the opportunity to kick off my new MediaMensch radio show with an interview featuring Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks North America and International and current board member. The show can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/mediamensch.

In addition, I was introduced to an "experimental" Starbucks drink this week which was a "Mint Chocolate Chip" frappucino. It is not on their menu and tastes exactly like the ice cream. We submitted the idea to Starbucks this week as well and thought they could do a "Green Day" on Earth Day with Green Teas, Green Lattes, and test this new Mint Chocolate Chip Frappucino.

MediaMensch Radio - Author and Executive Howard Behar of Starbucks

We are excited that our MediaMensch radio show is off to a great start. We are featuring stories in media of people, authors and musicians who might be new to you.

Our next show will feature, Howard Behar, the former President of Starbucks International and long time board member who has published a book entitled "It's Not About the Coffee". Howard will be appearing as a guest on the new live MediaMensch radio show on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 from 12 to 1 pm. We will be discussing his views on Starbucks culture and successful leadership practices and observations such as "The Walls Talk" and "The Person that Sweeps should pick the Broom". We also will discuss the changes taking place at Starbucks since Howard Schultz returned as CEO.

You can listen to this show at www.blogtalkradio.com/mediamensch

This show can be listened to live from your computer. You can also call in a special phone # as well. This show and future shows will be archived and available via this link and on iTunes.

We also have a sister show for the Facebook Economy called "Facebook Enthusiast", one of MediaMensch Networks new brands. You can listen to this show at www.blogtalkradio.com/facebookenthusiast We have an interview with the incredible young and prolific Anastasia Salter, a college professor and reader of over 5,000 books at age 23. She is one of the top reviewers for the facebook applications, Visual Bookshelf.