Look Who's At War: McDonald's vs. Starbucks and Banks vs. All of Us

A couple days ago, you may have noticed that McDonald's has declared war on Starbucks.

Here's a quote from one of the stories. "The coffee war is on, and the spoils are big: 57 percent of American adults drink coffee every day. And as CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports, McDonald's is taking aim at Starbucks and making its biggest menu addition in three decades. Cappuccinos, blended coffees and pastries are traditionally Starbucks' ground. But, now, McDonald's wants a shot at the espresso market, too. Famous for the Big Mac, the fast food chain has brewed up a plan to add high-end coffees and bottled beverages to their menu. By doing so, they hope also to add a billion dollars to their bottom line."

If I were doing a positioning map, I wouldn't have Starbucks and McDonald's anywhere near one another. Would you? So this strikes me as a very interesting and curious move. Does McDonald's really think that a lot of Starbucks customers are going to be easily persuaded to abandon their daily Starbucks fix and visit a McDonald's instead? I'm sure that the wizards at McDonald's have researched this up the ying yang, but it seems to me that the in-store experience at Starbucks is a big part of the whole Starbucks attraction. In no way does McDonald's come close to matching this experience. Maybe McDonald's is going to focus on all those people who are drive-thru customers of Starbucks. Since they never get out of their car, they don't get the whole Starbucks experience and might be more easily swayed to drive thru at the nearby McDonald's instead. This battle will be interesting to watch, but my money is on Starbucks to weather this storm.

Earlier today, there was another marketing war that got some publicity.

Here's a quote on that battle. "Banks Have Declared War – On You. Changes are coming fast to the credit card world, and you can expect your bank to raise rates, slash credit limits, add fees and cut rewards. Consumers, brace yourselves, MSN Money's Liz Pulliam Weston says." Now here's a battle that makes even less sense. The banking industry is generating tremendous negative publicity on itself by actions that are obviously being taken with no regard for their marketing impact. Banks are quickly becoming a universally recognized "business bad guy" in America. I have blogged on this subject in the past and I remain flabbergasted at the marketing ignorance being demonstrated by our banks. Their disregard for their own customers and their willingness to alienate them is stupendously short-sighted.

There is going to be a huge opportunity for one of them to wake up and really differentiate themselves from the banking pack by doing the most basic and simplest thing in marketing.....siding with their own consumers - duh.