Seth Godin Quotes

We think of Starbucks not as a coffee company but a media company.

My generation is so used to having our public spaces look like the Starbucks, with the beautiful lighting and the little bit of Nina Simone and my coffee that's blended a certain way from Costa Rica.

A lot of the things I did - it's not going to sound anything but egotistical - if I'm lucky and I did the right thing, they will be at Zara way before I can get them in the store, and I don't like that.

People don't go to Starbucks for the coffee - of that I'm pretty sure - they go for the atmosphere, they go for the 70 decibels, they go for the Starbucks effect.

I have two much-beloved stovetop espresso pots at home, plus a couple French presses I couldn't resist buying because they were so pretty. If I had to imbibe at Starbucks, I'd want a mocha with an extra shot.

When I first discovered in the early 1980s the Italian espresso bars in my trip to Italy, the vision was to re-create that for America - a third place that had not existed before. Starbucks re-created that in America in our own image; a place to go other than home or work. We also created an industry that did not exist: specialty coffee.

If you really think about it, when watching television, you have product placement all the time.

Right or wrong, the customer is always right.

Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.

I've always thought legal addictions are a great way to create a business. Starbucks is a wonderful example.

I think people will walk into the Starbucks store and overnight recognize the significant difference between what Starbucks represents day-in and day-out and all the other coffee companies that have been serving coffee in India for so many years.

If in 1989 I said, 'I have an idea: Bottle water and sell it. And charge more than a beer,' they would have chased me around with a giant butterfly net. The same with paying to watch a television station.

My manager came up with the name 'State of the Industry,' and it was just one of those things. It just took off. Well, I don't know about 'took off.' I'm not in the stratosphere.

Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers or anyone else who's in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public... I guess you can call it 'market research.'

I tell young entrepreneurs to use the leader in their industry and as a benchmark as they work to create their own brand. Don't look at what your competition is doing - if you emulate the leader in your industry, you will achieve a higher level of engagement with consumers and make their buying experience richer.

No matter how hard we work, there is always a gap with Western brands.

Unfortunately I don't live by a Target now, so I just go to a regular Starbucks as opposed to a Starbucks nested inside a Target, which is my ideal situation. That works out for me. I like that white noise, those interruptions, and the people around me.

In advertising, not to be different is virtual suicide.

Advertising is the price companies pay for being unoriginal.

I'm the only person who's uninspired by the Starbucks mocha peppermint whatever-it-is.

Marketing is not a nice word, but the world is about marketing now.

At HSN, the experience we create are a significant point of differentiation.

When I see a billboard that literally just has five names, and they're all A-listers, I'm just like, What is that bringing to the world that's new?

I knew that if I could create a quality product and find the proper retail outlets, it would be a great company.

We really don't look at our competitors. The market is big. If you focus too much on competitors, you can lose focus on the customer. If we make our customers happier, we are going to win.