Tuesday, September 10, 2002


colombia innovates

let's hope it's not too late! while coffee farmers face bankruptcy and coffee workers literally starve as central american governments seem to twiddle their thumbs, colombia's new president has taken a bold step forward in combatting the coffee crisis.

while it's true that uribe has gone the much-needed and more traditional route of extending subsidized loans to stricken farmers and asking for aid (he just received approval for US$42 million from congress), he's also started thinking out of the box. even as coffee prices have started rising this past week, he understands that coffee-producing countries need to reach out to consumers directly if they wish to survive in the long term.

here in the united states, despite the dominance of starbucks, when people think of coffee, they immediately think of juan valdez and his little donkey. the colombian coffee ad campaign featuring these two has been one of the longest-running in memory. they have appeared on our tv sets every year since the '50s. coffee -- "the richest kind" -- still means colombian for many americans.

uribe understands the power of this brand, and so he has announced a unique plan of public-private cooperation to open a chain of juan valdez coffee shops. if anyone can challenge the starbucks hegemony, it's gotta be juan valdez. the donkey's set to debut in miami this december.

nb: i will be at ground zero tomorrow to report on 9-11 world trade center anniversary events. expect my report sometime in the early afternoon.

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