Mark Kolier’s Blog

Posts Tagged ‘CNBC’

Last week I posted on what I felt was a strange and less than good move by Crumbs Bakery to go the route of an IPO. Indulgence based products and services seem to me to be a difficult area to sustain a consistent demand.

In this week’s Advertising Age it was reported that Cold Stone Creamery had embarked on a venture to compete in the self-serve, you weigh it and pay frozen yogurt category. http://bit.ly/fjmmXR . You remember Cold Stone Creamery don’t you? They were a darling for a few years and then not so much. In 2009 Cold Stone Creamery did U.S. $ 429 million in sales, but those sales were flat year over year.

My wife and I live in a town in Connecticut that has a small ice cream store with a couple of small sit down tables. Back in 2000 we thought about opening a Cold Stone Creamery which at the time was a relative newcomer (we remember Steve’s Ice Cream from Massachusetts and then New York from the 1980’s with the concept of mix-ins). We ended up passing on the idea because we were concerned about how the store would perform in the dead of winter. Cold Stone Creamery is a one trick pony.

A recent story on franchising on CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/39911155 outlined how Cold Stone Creamery franchisees (who have to purchase EVERYTHING from a company set up by – Cold Stone Creamery, were having difficulty making money – even those that were near the top in gross sales. Cold Stone denied much of the story. But the move to enter the Frozen Yogurt bar area suggests that the management of Cold Stone Creamery is uncertain as to what to do next.

Cold Stone Creamery has a brand – a pretty good identity at that. Rich tasting, indulgent and expensive ice cream treats/confections. If you remember the young people that did the mixing would sing while they worked – supposedly for tips. Now they are moving away from that concept entirely yet under the same brand umbrella.

I for one do not get it. Also noted in the Ad Age story is that Cold Stone Creamery spends $ 3 million on average in measured media. And now they are offering a completely different concept so there is a need to inform the consumer that what the perception of Cold Stone Creamery has been has changed. The management of Cold Stone Creamery acknowledges that Americans have moved to serve-yourself yogurt bars. So they are reacting by joining in the newest rage.

To me Cold Stone Creamery does not have any idea what to do next and is reaching for a solution and will come up empty. The next thing you might see them do is float out an IPO.

It’s too bad. I thought they had something that could have been built upon.

How about you? Have you gone to Cold Stone Creamery recently? Ever? What do you think?

John Skipper of ESPN is both a neighbor of mine as well (he was also my son’s 4^th grade basketball coach over a decade ago) as the Executive VP for content.   In an article in yesterday’s NY Times http://nyti.ms/ciWFqt he discussed the idea that should ESPN be awarded the 2014 winter and 2016 summer games (which they plan to bid on) they would discontinue the tape-delay template. 

I agree completely with him.   Let this be the last Olympics where I have to be cajoled into hanging in there under the banner of ’17 minutes until Lindsey Vonn’.  Or ‘Apolo Ohno in 22 minutes’.  This while they show a taped cross country ski race for which we already know the result.  

NBC has offered live coverage on MSNBC (hockey in particular) and CNBC to name two alternate stations.   In fact I watched the women’s gold medal game last night live.  But NBC rarely if ever suggests that you go to MSNBC or CNBC to watch an event live.  As if they are somehow going to scoop their own coverage.  Yes I realize that non-cable subscribers may not have that access but – too bad for them if that’s the case.  

And as I was watching the hockey game last night with my wife and 16 year old daughter (the Canadian goaltender nearly stood on her head in pitching a shutout vs. a very determined and capable American squad), I marveled – (well maybe I was just impressed) at the continuous action and NO commercial breaks during the period.  The game was fast paced and took less than 2 hours to complete.  It was an enjoyable experience and although disappointed the Americans did not win I was happy for the Canadians who have a world of pressure to deliver gold in what should be but is not their national sport (lacrosse!). 

If you watch soccer on TV (and the 2010 World cup in South Africa is coming up fast in June) you notice that there are not commercial breaks either.  The action is continuous but what they do is place rotating ads on the screen in the corner.  Why doesn’t MSNBC do the same thing during the Olympic hockey coverage?   Viewers are fairly accustomed to this now and we do understand that broadcast rights are expensive. I sincerely doubt most people would begrudge rotating on screen ads if done unobtrusively, particularly if we exchange that model for one that has us going to commercial breaks at seemingly every stoppage of play as it is in the NHL TV coverage. 

How could MSNBC miss this opportunity?