One of the most frequent questions in marketing today is “Should we burn more ad budget now?” However, when you examine real cases of corporate crisis recovery, the answer lies in the opposite direction. When Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks in 2008, the first thing he did was not increase advertising but close hundreds of stores. He trimmed the fat before filling the void.
What It Means When a Rejected Person Takes Over the Company
Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 when it was a small coffee bean shop, and proposed the espresso bar culture he saw in Milan, only to be rejected. He left the company and opened his own store called Il Giornale, and finally bought out those who rejected him in 1987. If this sequence feels awkward to you, it means you haven’t yet learned that execution is stronger than persuasion.
Most cases of corporate crisis recovery diverge at this point. While some are clinging to external consulting reports, those who truly change the market are quietly validating their own hypotheses.
A Return That Was Not Polite Before Crisis
In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, Schultz’s second return was not gentle. He closed hundreds of stores, replaced executives, introduced a nationwide loyalty program, and strengthened fair trade standards. At the same time, he dug into the Chinese market with deep tea culture and created new coffee consumption habits.
What Cannot Be Solved by Performance Advertising
What’s important to note here is that he did not choose a short-term fix of boosting ROAS metrics. He restructured the brand’s very foundation. The method of increasing ad spend to create temporary revenue is like addiction. The moment you stop, the revenue disappears.
Decision Criteria Korean SMEs Should Have
The principles we should extract from representative global cases of corporate crisis recovery are simple.
- Check STP first: Write down again who you’re selling to, why, and what makes you different.
- Trim the fat first: Honestly close channels and SKUs that don’t generate profit.
- Listen to customer needs again: Data is only a tool; identifying needs is the essence.
- Increasing ad spend is a last resort: Ad spend without fundamental improvement is debt.
Schultz said, “We are not in the coffee business; we are in the business of serving people.” The common thread among brands that survived crises was not technology, but this perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. When sales plummet, isn’t increasing ad budget the right answer?
No. As many cases of corporate crisis recovery prove, if you increase ad spend while your fundamentals are weak, short-term revenue may rise, but the moment you stop, a bigger void appears. This is why Schultz started by closing stores.
Q2. Can small companies make bold decisions like Schultz?
In fact, the smaller you are, the easier it is. Because the decision-making structure is simpler. The starting point is to close one unprofitable channel and pour those resources into solving key customer needs.
Insights from Soulpapa Marketing — Korea’s digital marketing agency.
Original Korean article: https://soulpapa.co.kr/2026/05/21/gieop-wigi-geukbok-sarye-howard-schultz/
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