At the end of every week, we look at the key stories, offering our view on what they mean for you and the industry. From Starbucks looking to appeal to both frequent and lapsed customers and the need for brand trust in challenging times, it’s been a busy week. Here is my take.
Coffee for the masses
In 2024, Mark Ritson wrote an evisceration of the management of the Starbucks brand for Marketing Week. A takedown of a brand that had lost its way with overcomplicated positioning.
Just over a year later, he made the turnaround under CEO Brian Niccol one his moments of 2025. The reason? Simplifcation of the customer promise.
Another titan of the industry, Byron Sharp, might also endorse some of Niccol’s latest changes. In a call to investors this week, Niccol, as part of his ‘Back to Starbucks’ strategy, said on joining the business he set about reversing a corrosive trend – the decline of customers who were not members of its loyalty scheme.
“That’s never healthy in a business,” he said. “You have to win both with your rewards customers and, call it, the ‘light’ or ‘infrequent’ customer.” The move to reach more of the masses has got the “brand back in front,” he added.
Couple this with the investment in value, and move away from discounting, and you have a brand heading firmly in the right direction. Like-for-like sales for its first fiscal quarter increased for the first time in two years.
In brands we trust
Trust loomed large on Marketing Week this week. Brand trust has many definitions. For some, it extends to lofty expectations of companies to do the right thing; for others, it’s offering the product and service you promise.
Either way, it has a halo effect. Trusted ads deliver better outcomes, it was claimed this week. An analysis of the IPA’s Effectiveness Databank found 93% of for-profit ad campaigns reporting very large increases in brand trust also recorded at least one meaningful outcome – sales growth, market share or profit increase. Now, it’s arguable that a trusted brand means its ads will be trusted more, rather than creating it but either way, trust is important.
Elsewhere this week, 2026’s first The Lowdown webinar unpicked the challenges and opportunities facing marketing this year. If one assessment of the UK economy stood out, it was analyst Ian Whittaker’s “OK, but not great”. Of the “not great” elements to consider, inflation, a factor for three years that geo-political events risk exacerbating in 2026, was highlighted. As was the role trust plays when it comes to price innovation.
In challenging times, a brand that delivers what it’s supposed to, doesn’t take the piss and solicits positive emotion in its ads has a better chance of engendering trust. Take that as consultancy.
Confidence breeds investment
Alongside the ability to stimulate trust in pushing through price increases, confidence is also key for marketers. Specifically, earning the confidence of key stakeholders.
In this week’s The Marketing Week Podcast, Sainsbury’s CMO Mark Given, our Marketer of the Year, said the best way to address what he describes as a “crisis of confidence” among marketers is to be “supremely confident in any commercial or financial conversation”. Easy said, but time and effort needs investing. Gain the confidence, however, and more positive outcomes follow for all concerned.
Just ask Bloom & Wild. A focus on sustainable growth after the short-term spike in market share during the pandemic came with it brand investment, breeding confidence and now allowing for more.
CMO Charlotte Langley told us the company is “confident” in investing behind its brand. “That allows us to invest even more into the future of the brand and the business,” she added.
A virtuous circle.
The week ahead
We will be kicking off coverage of our much-awaited 2026 Career & Salary Survey next week.