Mug Shot — «Starbucks '99 'Joe Magazine' Mug V2»

City: New York City Country: USA Edition: Limited Edition Belongs to: 2 users (0 trading, 1 seeking)

This version of the "Joe" mug displays the text,"Life is Interesting. Discuss", running vertically up the reverse side of the mug. See also version 1...mug #2179 which displays the same text running horizontally across the front

“Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks Coffee said, ‘I took Starbucks into the magazine business with Joe – my idea. Nobody read it. Since Joe failed, I’ve kept a rack of issues in my office so everyone can see the magazine and realize we shouldn’t hide behind our mistakes and we should have the courage to keep pushing by not embracing the status quo. I keep that there as a memento. It was an embarrassing defeat and we lost a fair amount of money, but sometimes you have to have the courage to fail.'”
Joe Magazine survived through just three issues before Starbucks pulled the plug on it.
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2011/03/12/flashback-to-1999-the-starbucks-joe-magazine/

Lloyd Ziff -
I was the Creative Director of JOE. It failed for several reasons:
It was a joint venture of Starbucks & Time Inc. There was no business plan to promote it. NOTHING. Both giant corporations thought the other was supposed to publicize it. It suddenly appeared @ Starbucks, but the kids who worked behind the counters had no training to tell customers what it was or why it was there. The few people who looked at it were surprised to find they were expected to pay for it ($2.95). But perhaps the most important reason it failed so quickly was the editing. It was edited for a nonexistent elitist audience with very few articles that were compelling to read unless you a getting a masters esoterica. It did win awards for design though. It’s failure literally broke my heart . . . I had a heart attack soon afterward & decided I’d already designed all the magazines I cared to . . . Rolling Stone, New West, Vanity Fair . . . & it was time to devote myself to my photography.

  Joe, Joe Magazine, 1999, USA, New York City

Karma: 3 Added by Barry 0 Comments