Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD), Battle of the Brands

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Oh, how the sugary have fallen. Ten years ago, even five, you and I both know how this would have come out. In the standoff between longtime national fried-dough pusher Dunkin’ Donuts and upstart sweet freak Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE: KKD), Krispy reigned supreme. The chain was rolling out new franchises as fast as dough circles could parade around its restaurants on shiny metal racks, and each time it did local police stations did overtime directing traffic.

Somehow, the mighty fell after the considerable sugar high, largely connected to poorly-managed finances, badly-handled expansion, and a sudden national fear of carbohydrates. All the while, Dunkin’ Donut managers everywhere continued to plod along, making the doughnuts, and quietly stirring a blue-collar breakfast revolution. One day America woke up and realized, hey, Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee is good! Someone named it “Better than Starbucks” and it soon became clear that the product guys had realized something: we make a lotta money off of coffee. Actually, more than half of the company’s revenue.

Soon Rachael Ray was perkily declaring her love for Dunkin’ Donuts (pointedly never eating a doughnut in a commercial), Dunkin’ Donuts coffee was available in grocery stores, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts were growing stale in their plastic cases. The company couldn’t even find a way to make a trans-fat-free doughnut, let alone win back the enthusiasm America had once felt for the iconic glazed dough circles.

While this day it’s my belief that more Americans love Dunkin’ Donuts than Krispy Kreme, it’s interesting to note that it’s not because of any superiority in the powdered chocolate creme-filled pastry (oh, how I loved you once upon a time!). No, it’s all in the rest of Dunkin’ Donuts’ menu — and perhaps its working-class, no-fuss cred — and it’s unlikely Krispy Kreme will ever be so hot and fresh again.

Vote in our poll for Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts as your preferred brand, and let us know in the comments why you love it.

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Filed under: Deals, Marketing and advertising

When IHOP (NYSE: IHP) concurred acquire Applebee’s nine months ago, Applebee’s shareholders were none too pleased. Highly respected investor Sardar Biglari vocally opposed the deal, Applebee’s director Burton Sack made plans to sue, and shares of IHOP rose more than Applebee’s on the announcement — a very rare occurrence.

But now things have changed as the restaurant industry has continued to weaken and shares of IHOP have lost a good chunk of their value. Applebee’s competitors like Ruby Tuesday’s (NYSE: RT) have plunged, and the deal is looking less well timed.

The company released its first quarter results this week and the Applebee’s turnaround appears to be doing as well as could be expected given the environment — the company saw the first quarter of positive same-store sales growth in two years. However, plans to sell and lease back some of the real estate that came with the deal has been “challenged by weakening credit market conditions.” The plan to franchise more of the company-owned stores has made some progress.

In an interview with USA This day, IHOP chairman and CEO Julia A. Stewart explained her plan to revitalize Applebee’s. The paper said that she wanted “better food, better ads, better atmosphere and conversion to a near-100% franchise business model from the current about 75%. She wants Applebee’s again to be the friendly, neighborhood bar and grill it was.”

Stewart might have overpaid for Applebee’s, but that happens with nearly each acquisition. In addition, the ill-timed buy pulled IHOP out of the acquisition game right before a lot of other restaurant companies got cheaper. If Stewart can’t make hay out of Applebee’s, she’ll have a lot of explaining to do.

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Marketing and advertising, CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS)

Shares of CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) are trading up this morning after the corporate home of CSI, Two and a Half Men and Katie Couric, reported better-than-expected first quarter results.

Net income was $244.3 million, or 36 cents per share, up 14% from $213.5 million, or 28 cents, the New York-based company said in its earnings release. Revenue was little changed at $3.65 billion. The results beat Wall Street estimates of profit of 33 cents on sales of $3.55 billion.

Strength in the company’s Television and Outdoor businesses overcame weaknesses in the Radio and Publishing divisions. The results were bolstered by an 85% gain in television licensing fees which were helped by higher domestic and international syndication sales. Rate increases and subscriber growth at Showtime Networks and CBS College Sports Network boosted affiliate revenues by 6%. The company also boosted its dividend by 8% to 27 cents per share.

Stanford Group analyst Fred Moran had an optimistic take on the results.

“It shows CBS is holding its own despite the recessionary advertising environment in the U.S,” he told Bloomberg News. “The yearly dividend is now a 5 percent yield, and it’s one of the cheapest stocks in the media group.”

Ratings for the network’s massive shows such as CSI:Miami and Two and a Half Men have rebounded since the end of the writers’ strike in February, according to Bloomberg. Advertisers also will ratchet up spending to encourage people to spend their economic stimulus payments which should benefit the TV, Radio and Outdoor businesses. Radio, though, will continue to suck wind as will Publishing. The shares would rise further if CBS disposed of one or both of those units.

For now, the company will plod along as advertising sales continue to slow as marketers demand steep rate discounts. CBS, like other mainstream media companies, is still reeling from the sea change caused by the Internet. Odds are good that it will merge its floundering news division with CNN. Couric’s time as CBS Evening News anchor is coming to an end sooner rather than later despite protestations from CEO Les Moonves to the contrary.

Investors should avoid this company as long as it’s under the control of the mercurial billionaire Sumner Redsone.
He cares most about Sumner Redstone. Helping shareholders is a secondary concern.

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Filed under: Bad news, Competitive strategy, Starbucks (SBUX), Marketing and advertising

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) was reported last week to be “pulling back” from the company’s one year old record label, Hear Music. The label, which released high profile and chart successes from Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell, will be turned over to independent label Concord Music Group. Concord will also assume management and promotion for those artists that signed with Hear Music, including McCartney and Mitchell, as well as James Taylor and newcomer Hilary McRae.

In the meantime, Ken Lombard has left the music label and coffee giant “to pursue other business interests” according to MSN. Chris Bruzzo, who had been the chief technology officer, has been promoted to the leadership role in the Entertainment division at Starbucks. According to Billboard, Lombard’s exit and the reorganization of Hear Music “are part of a strategic overhaul to analyze all aspects of its business that are not directly related to its core.”

Over a year ago, when the announcement was first made that Starbucks would be starting a music label and had successfully signed one of The Beatles as its first artist, it made headline news. Given the success that McCartney has seen with his only album for Starbucks and the way the marketing for the album was handled, the news that the label is essentially moving back into the industry is shocking. Although Concord is an independent label, the exciting thing about Starbucks’ music label was that it was so different.

It might not have been any cheaper to purchase the album from a Starbucks store, but it was the method with which it had approached selling music that was special. It was inventive and really showcased the full extent of each product. Fortunately, it is doubtful that Starbucks will stop stocking CDs or even Hear Music albums. Perhaps it was just too late for a physical album label to be set up successfully due to the success and promotion that digital music has started to like within the same time period.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Marketing and advertising

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) ventured further into mobile advertising this past week with the introduction of display ads geared for mobile phones. From the smallest cellphone screen resolution to the iPhone, Google wants to ensure that it will be able to display ads on all those billions of little screens in the very near future. This should come as no surprise, as CEO Eric Schmidt seems to always promote Google’s mobile efforts each single chance he gets. It’s no surprise — there are way more mobile users in the world than there are Personal computer users.

Can Google become as successful on the mobile screen as it has been on the Computer screen? That’s a tough one to chew on, but the extremely limited real estate of a cellphone screen might make that effort quite difficult. Google just can’t line up paid ads down the side of a cellphone screen like it can on that laptop screen or that 21″ LCD monitor on the desk at home or in the office.

The iPhone changed the game a bit last year, giving customers a very huge screen — both physically and in resolution — to play with. However, the number of iPhones pale in comparison with total cellphones with a smaller color screen. Google’s Android cellphone operating system, which has a huge partnership following, might be able to increase available inventory on the mobile screen for Google’s ads. In fact, that was probably a top priority. However, it will be quite a while before customers have that at their fingertips. Google’s mobile ad efforts, until then, will be highly complementary to its regular advertising business on the PC screen, but nothing more.

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Filed under: Windows, Productivity, Microsoft, How-Tos, Mods

Speed is all about perception, so any tip that makes a computer feel faster is gold as far as we’re concerned. Today’s tip is a doozy from Raymond Chen, the venerable Microsoft developer and blogger.

According to Chen, a number of user interface timers in Windows key off of the double-click speed registry setting.

The default double-click speed in Windows is 500ms , or exactly 1/2 of a second. Try dropping that down to 250ms — about three-quarters of the way towards Fast — and watch the rest of Windows feel just a bit snappier, since a number of other Windows user interface timings use that setting as a reference. Cool!

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Filed under: World wide web, Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

Is it just us, or has there been an explosion of on the web scheduling services over the past few weeks? First there were Jiffle, Tungle, and When is Good. And now there’s Presdo. Like the other services, Presdo makes it simple to schedule meeting with one or more people. You send out a request, and other users can reply with the times that work ideal for them. But there are a few things that set Presdo apart.

First, it uses natural language recognition to help schedule your meetings. The home page isn’t filled with a bunch of boxes to fill out. Instead, you have one search box, into which you can type “lunch with Bob,” or “dinner with Joan.” On the next page, Presdo will make an educated guess as to the best time for your event. If you enter something vague like “take over the world with Pinky,” it’ll probably just use the default “tomorrow at 10am.” But it does a pretty good time of picking the proper times for meals.

You can also use Presdo to help find a place for your meeting. If you entered “Coffee with Mike,” Presdo will let you pull up a window to search for coffee shops with Google Maps. When you send out your invitation, recipients can either accept or offer their own suggested times.

[via TechCrunch]

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Filed under: Products and services, Management, Marketing and advertising

I’ve recently taken a swift look at Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC). Teradata was a well-received spin-off of NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR). Teradata is a commercial data warehousing, processing, and examining specialist for major business enterprises. The company focuses on the development of retail market intelligence based on consumer habits and trending, among other analytical data specialties.

It was recently announced by Teradata that a 550 store, an Italian supermarket chain, is expanding its Teradata system. Streetinvesting.com reported that the Italian firm wishes to more fully utilize its Teradata based information management systems across a broader range of its operations. Streetinvesting.com said, “Teradata CRM provides a detailed understanding of customer buy behaviors and preferences, and enables personalized offers to customers. Teradata’s scalability supports growing businesses with increasingly complex business demands driven by robust growth stipulations and the need for pervasive business intelligence.”

In my view, Teradata has been performing adequately as a company, reporting $200 million net income for 2007 on sales of $1.7 billion. Currently, the company’s share performance is lagging noticeably within its peer group, although its income statement is showing four consecutive years of gross income increases. Operating expenses do appear to be weighing heavily on the company’s performance, and taxes are certainly an issue.

At the time of this research, Teradata’s shares are trading very near their 52-week low, prepared to open Monday at $21.77 against a 52-week high of $30.08. Analyst sentiment appears to be confident but reserved in regard to this stock. The consensus is calling it a buy.

Gary Sattler is a freelance blogger with no stock picking credentials. He does not knowingly hold interest in the companies mentioned in this post.

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Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla, Freeware, Browser Tips

For some reason when a page is loading in Firefox, it doesn’t seem to respond to user interaction immediately. For example, state you’re loading a very long page (maybe you’re using a free Backpack account), and you know that the content you need is half way down the page. By default, Firefox will ignore user interaction in favor of giving all processing power to page rendering.

It might well be that Firefox’s engineers made this decision for a very good reason, but what if it bugs you that Firefox ignores you when you know exactly what you want to be doing? Well, it turns out there’s a hidden setting in Firefox that will allow you to bend it to your will.

Firefox uses two priority modes when rendering a page: a low-priority mode that often checks for user input, and a high-priority mode that prioritizes page rendering over user input. There is a timer that determines how long Firefox will wait for user input before switching to high-priority rendering mode.

The Geek at How-To-Geek researched this setting, and determined that switching the default value from 750000 to 1000000 is a good balance that grants for a more responsive feeling browser, while still giving an sufficient amount of time to the high-priority mode.

To make this change yourself, type about:config into your Firefox address bar, then type content.switch.threshold into the Filter field. You will likely not have any results returned. If the setting already exists, simply switch the value from the default 750000 to 1000000. If it doesn’t, right click anywhere in the window and select New > Integer. Use the following setting:

• Key Name: content.switch.threshold
• Key Value: 1000000

To reverse this tip, simply right-click on the setting and choose Reset from the context menu.

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Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer experience, Wal-Mart (WMT), Starbucks (SBUX), Marketing and advertising, Money and Finance This day, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), Kohl’s Corp (KSS), Ruth’s Chris Steak House (RUTH), Economic data, Stocks to Buy, Stocks to Sell, Recession

The New York Times reports that Americans in the economic middle are eating pasta instead of meat and staying at Hampton’s Inn instead of Hilton as they try to keep their families together in the face of flat income and skyrocketing costs. As a result, some companies are suffering and others are benefiting. Let’s look at two that are benefiting and 10 that are hurting:

Here are two companies that are doing superior thanks to their lower prices:

• TJX Co.’s (NYSE: TJX)
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT)

Here are 10 that are hurting because people can’t afford to go out to restaurants and buy high-priced clothes:

• Bob Evans Farms (NYSE: BOBE)
• Denny’s (NASDAQ: DENN)
• Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ)
• J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP)
• Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS)
• Macy’s (NYSE: M)
• Morton’s Restaurant Group (NYSE: MRT)
• Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT)
• Ruth’s Chris Steak Home (NYSE: RUTH)
• Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)

Investors may want to take into account whether to invest in the winners and sell short or simply avoid the losers. And if you’re among the pasta eaters — you’ll need to find an inexpensive way to exercise more. Comment below if you want help analyzing these stocks.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also instructs management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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