Starbucks: Crisis Managment

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Successful operations in today’s business world understand the importance of their employees. Paul A. Argenti and Courtney M. Barnes, authors of the book Digital Strategies state, “a company is only as strong as its weakest link, or its employees (Argenti and Barnes 111).” Senior executives today know that their employees can have significant impacts on their companies and that is why it is important for companies to have good employee relation strategies. This is especially true in a crisis, in which internal constituents will have to communicate externally (Argenti and Barnes 113).

Employee Relations/Internal Communications

“Conventional wisdom dictates that happy employees are more productive, motivated, and loyal, not to mention more likely to act as de facto ambassadors for the brand by recommending the company’s products/services to their family and friends (Argenti and Barnes 119).” When it comes to their employees Starbucks:

•  Calls their employees partners and shares a direct and open relationship with them
• Provides all employees with a positive workplace 
• Openly values respect for one another and openly acknowledges that success would not be possible without their employees    
• Offers comprehensive benefit packages for employees
• Provides flexible hours and offers a fair and competitive wage

This employee relation strategy is important and has been very beneficial to the company. For e.g. When Starbucks planned to launch a premium food line in stores worldwide, the company used an internal marketing campaign, called “Coffee Loves Company,” to gain employee support. They were successful with this campaign because of the employee support that came through their employee relations program. Starbucks also uses newspapers & print, video, mail packages, voicemail and meetings to communicate with employees. A newspaper may contain business strategies and information pertaining to overall company direction and a voicemail may contain a motivational message or a urgent message from management.

Investor Relations

Investor Relations is another important part of communication in crisis management. According to Argenti and Barnes a common theme among consumers, voters and investors is a lack of trust for big corporations. This lack of trust was fueled by the Enron and WorldCom scandal and because of this “companies must respond by communicating their IR efforts more transparently and in a more accessible way- namely, via the web (Argenti and Barnes 142).”

Starbucks uses the Internet as their main form of communication to investors. On their website they have a page called investor relations where you can find annual & quarterly reports, corporate news, financial releases, analyst coverage & much more.

The company covers a wide variety of financial aspects to communicate to their investors and to be transparent. This is key to a successful corporation because as Argenti & Barnes tells us “ a company’s IR strategy must address individual shareholders and financial media, as well as institutional investors, credit-rating agencies, activists shareholders and buy and sell side analysts (Argenti and Barnes 145).”

Government Relations

“Business and politics are becoming increasingly intertwined (Argenti and Barnes 195).” Corporations now know that they can increase their reputation and protect their interest through lobbying.

Starbucks like many corporations uses lobbying as a main tool in their government relations. For E.g. In the past the CEO has written letters to Government officials to express his concern that bipartisan leadership in the US is lacking. The company also donates money to political groups that align with their interests. To manage public affairs Starbucks has a public affairs department headed by the CEO who is the main spokesperson.

Spokespeople

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

Having spokespeople for a corporation is important in company branding as well as in crisis management. It is imperative to have a person or people that know the company (Vision, culture, mission etc..) to speak on behalf of the company in good times and in bad times. Generally speaking it works best to have a spokesperson that is a recognizable face and has some association with the company for e.g. the company CEO. Spokespeople like this have an established credibility. Some companies choose to have celebrity spokespeople to further their brand image or endorse their product. According to the book, Brandwashed, by Martin Lindstrom, “a celebrity associated product can be a very powerful, subliminal purchase influence (Lindstrom 160).”

Starbucks uses their CEO Howard Schultz, current investors, senior staff and financial analysts as their typical spokes people in the public. The company does not make a constant use of celebrity spokespeople or endorsers like most large corporations do. They use Andy Ritcher, an American actor and writer, Lady Gaga, an American pop star and comedian and Joe Scarborough an American cable news and talk radio host. Andy Ritcher appeared on the Conan show where he was introducing a new Starbucks drink. Starbucks teamed up with Lady Gaga to promote her new album as well as to promote their products. The corporation hosted a Gaga-infused scavenger hunt across its digital properties from Facebook to Twitter. The top winner received special access to her concert as well as free music from the star. Joe Scarborough sips Starbucks coffee on his radio show, which is streamed live over the Internet.

American Pop Star Lady Gaga

I would say the Starbucks spokespeople are and have been used effectively. Using their CEO, senior staff and financial analysts is a good way to go because they are credible and knowledgeable people. In terms of celebrity spokespeople, Ritcher and Scarborough are older and so they appeal to the older demographic which Starbucks aims to target. The two of them have endorsed products on radio talk shows and late night shows in which adults are more likely to be watching. Lady Gaga is one of the most famous pop artists in the world. She appeals mostly to the teenage demographic but also to the older age group. She has a Facebook fan page and a twitter with millions of followers. Starbucks teaming up with her in combination with social media was the right move to appeal to the teenage demographic and to endorse their product.

Crisis Management Analysis

I believe Starbucks has a pretty good system in place to handle a crisis. They use multi-platform communication such as social media and their newsroom; the company places a strong value on honesty and transparency, they have knowledgeable and credible spokespeople like their CEO and key financial analysts and a strong organizational culture in which everyone feels they are a part of the company.
I believe that the most important strategies in a crisis are: 

• Honesty- Being honest and transparent leaves nothing in the dark that can come out and   haunt you later making things worse. You also do not want to lose the trust of the public and or employees. 
• Organizational culture- Having a strong culture that incorporates and makes employees feel like a big part of the company is important because when it comes down to it they can be the companies biggest advocates in times of need. 
•  Using multiplatform communication- So that information is available in multiple communication mediums.

 

 Works Cited

Argenti, Argenti A. and Courtney M. Barnes. Digital strategies for Corporate communications. McGraw Hill, 2009.

Lindstrom, Martin. Brandwashed. n.d.

Starbucks: Website Design

As I discussed in last weeks blog about Starbucks’ media relations, they have stayed current with today’s digital age by creating an interactive, well designed and easy to use website. There is more to a website than just making it interactive and easy to use. According to Robin Williams, writer of the book The Non-Designers InDesign Book, “Putting graphics and text on a page is the easy part (Williams 3).”

Balance

Pictures, cropped and grouped together to create a proportional look.

A well designed website will contain balance between all the objects on the page. This means that everything placed on the page is symmetrical and contains cohesion. How is this done? Well Williams provides a few ways in his book. One of the tools you can use is the re size and crop tool to make objects and graphics proportional. Another tool one could use is the grouping tool to group images together so that they give a cohesive and proportional look (Williams 150-154).

On Starbucks’ home page and throughout their website, we can see symmetry and cohesiveness everywhere. For e.g. on their home page towards the bottom right of the page, we can see six pictures which are grouped nicely and are all the same size making them look like a perfectly shaped rectangle. Another example can be seen on their Coffeehouse page.  Here you will notice that all their social media links are all grouped together and evenly spaced making them look like a rectangle.

Alignment

Alignment between text, pictures and headings.

Another aspect of a well designed website is alignment. Robins tells us “objects should be aligned along their edges or centers, so that the space between objects is evenly distributed (Williams 156-157).” Alignment is a big part of balance because it goes back to symmetry and proportions. Objects that are aligned also suggest that there is a relationship between the objects.

On Starbucks’ website you will notice that all pictures and text are aligned nicely and create balance. For e.g. on their Coffee page you will see wherever there is a heading for e.g. Coffee by Profile, it is followed by pictures that are aligned to the outer edges and which tell us that there is a clear relationship to between the two items. On other places on their website you will constantly see how all pictures, headings are aligned nicely. They are either left aligned, right aligned or aligned in the center. Another example can be seen on their pages tab on the top of the page. Each heading is aligned and evenly spaced.

Grouping

Images grouped together to create symmetry.

Grouping is another tool that can be used to create balance and alignment between objects and text on a page. As I mentioned earlier Starbucks does a good job of grouping pictures and text together to create balance and symmetry. This can be seen with their all their social media links on every page as well as pages with multiple pictures in an area.

Consistency

Consistency is an important part of website design. In my earlier blog post about Starbucks branding I discussed how Starbucks was consistent in keeping the general theme and idea of their logo consistent since they made their first logo and this has been beneficial for their brand identity. In the same way consistency is important in branding, it is also important when it comes to a company website.

Consistent format for all pages.

Starbucks’ website has a consistent flow when it comes to things like layout color and groupings. If you were to click on any of Starbucks’ page tabs you will notice that the layout is the same on each page. Logo in the top right hand corner, page tabs across the top of the page, search box in top right-hand corner and links to different sections of the website at the bottom of the page. Every page has the same consistent look and lets you know that you are on their page.

Contrast

Contrast is an important element of a well designed website. Contrast between colors can make certain things standout and visually pleasing to the eye.

Plain white background contrasts nicely with black text and green headings.

Starbucks uses a plain white background, which is key in making objects and text standout. For e.g. on their menus tab you can notice that each page name is in green, bold, large letters, which stands out nicely against the plain white background.  Other texts throughout the website is in plain black which also creates a nice contrast with the white background as well as the green subtitles and headings.

Cross Cultural Design

Cross-cultural communications is an important part of business these days. Different cultures can take in or perceive words and pictures differently.

Starbucks has a section on their webpage called web accessibility. The company states on this page that they are committed to diversity, inclusion and accessibility and they are constantly looking for ways to improve in these areas. One of the things Starbucks tries to do is use simple language and also avoid slang or jargon on their website. Another thing you will notice with their pictures and graphics is that they are simple and provide the intended message/emotion. For e.g. pictures or coffee, people enjoying coffee and or company products provide a simple clear message that cannot be misinterpreted, even across cultures.

Works Cited

Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer's InDesign Book. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2012.

Starbucks: Media Relations

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Starbucks: Media Relations

Starbucks is an interesting company when it comes to media relations. Traditionally, Starbucks has not sought out a vigorous advertising campaign like most companies. Traditionally, and somewhat today, Starbucks has relied on word of mouth, the brands eye-catching uniqueness and store locations as its main form of advertising. This is quite the opposite from what Paul A. Argenti and Courtney M. Barnes, authors of the book, Digital Strategies, consider traditional. According to these authors traditional media relations techniques would use newspapers, magazines, radio and television to further brand reputation. Starbucks’ first TV commercial aired in 2007 in the US, 36 years after the company first opened.

Although Starbucks has taken a unique path in traditional media relations, they have adopted some new techniques to stay current and to further increase their brand reputation. Starbucks uses:

·      Website- Starbucks has an easy to use interactive website that has a lot of information about company history, products, events and investor relations

·      Newsroom- The company website has an interactive newsroom where they post electronic press releases, current events, video news releases and links to social media. Customers can also sign up to receive Starbucks news via email.

·      Social Media- Starbucks makes good use of social media. It has a Facebook page, which has over 20 million likes and a twitter with over 2 million followers. It also has a YouTube page with over 15,000 subscribers. They use these sites to post information on new drinks, products and to stay in touch mostly with the younger demographic.

·      Online Community- The company has also made use of the web by creating a ‘My Starbucks Idea,” page in their website. Here, Starbucks fans can sign up to share different ideas about products, new drinks, social media etc…

Starbucks has been able to incorporate branding details into their media relations strategies by:

·      Targeting mainstream media outlets, financial magazines and environmental publications. It is able to achieve this by creating story angles about their social responsibility, about Starbucks investments and their responsible business practices.

·      Creating positive media messages such as “Starbucks is a socially responsible company that encourages avid community involvement by bringing people together and inspiring change in people’s lives,” and “Starbucks practices environmental stewardship with energy and water conservation, as well as recycling.”

·      Using carefully selected spokes people, such as their CEO, current investors and Starbucks financial staff.

Targeting mainstream media and creating positive media messages is a good way to create “positive identification” as Argenti & Barnes would say. They say that it is important to identify media outlets that can positively influence your organization and incorporate them into your media strategy. Starbucks has identified influential spokespeople that they can use to convey their positive messages in mainstream media outlets to further increase brand reputation.

Starbucks’ media strategies are consistent with their overall company personality. For E.G. Starbucks is big on environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility, so they deliberately target environmental & agricultural publications by creating story angles and media messages that these magazines would love to pick up. For e.g. a story line or message that an environmental publication would like to pick up could be, “Starbucks sponsors various philanthropies throughout the year through in-store promotions and Starbucks maintains long-term, ethical relationships with its suppliers, which leads to more stable production costs and profits.”

If I could point out something that Starbucks could improve in their media strategies it would be more ad campaigns. Maybe they could branch out and create commercials on television and radio. With that being said, we still can’t forget that they are one of the most successful coffee companies in the world, so maybe no change is needed for the companies media relations strategies.

Works Cited

Argenti, Argenti A. and Courtney M. Barnes. Digital startegies for Corporate communications. McGraw Hill, 2009.

Starbucks: Branding

Origin of The Name Starbucks

The name Starbucks was chosen by the three original founders of Starbucks who opened their first store in Seattle, 1971. The name comes from the novel Moby Dick and was the name of the chief mate sailor on the Pequod. The three founders were looking for a way to capture the seafaring history of coffee and Seattle’s strong seaport roots and this is why they chose the name Starbucks, which they felt symbolized the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders.

Starbucks original logo 1971-1987

Logo

Starbucks' first logo was designed in 1971 around the original nautical theme inspired by the story of Moby Dick. The logo depicts a 16th century Norse woodcut of a twin-tailed Mermaid, or Siren. Mermaids often represent somewhat of a mystery. Mystery mixed with the nautical theme is exactly what the founders were looking for. Starbucks believes the mystery of the mermaid invites all of us to find what we’re looking for, even if it’s something we haven’t even imagined yet.

Starbucks logo 1987-2010

Starbucks logo 2010-Present

Although the Starbucks logo has undergone some minor changes over the years, they have remained consistent in keeping the mermaid as the central theme of the logo. Starbucks believes that the mermaid is the heart of the organization, reminding them of their heritage and reminding them to imagine and push for something greater.

The Color Green

When we look at the Starbucks logo we will notice that the main color is green. Green is a color that represents nature and balance. The Ancient Egyptians believed green was healing to the eyes partly because the color is easy to look at. The elements of the color green are consistent with elements of Starbucks' mission to nurture the human spirit, by providing a third place between work and home (Balance) where people can meet for conversation and that gives a sense of community.

Analysis of Brand

Starbucks has had great success with their brand strategy. They have a unique name and logo which entail some symbolic qualities and create an emotional connection with the product (Use of color green, mermaid which represents mystery and name which symbolizes romance of the high seas and seafaring tradition of early coffee traders).

The Starbucks brand is bold, stands-out (contrast between green and white and use of all caps) and has become a highly recognizable brand name, not just in the coffee world. The name Starbucks is also very easy to say. The company has avoided major rebranding and has remained authentic by sticking to the original ideas and themes which work around an unifying idea, and which reminds the corporation of its mission, vision, values and heritage.


Today when you think of Starbucks, you think of quality coffee, a social hub, a place to meet, a family friendly environment, an inviting place... All these things are proof that Starbucks is living out its mission, vision and values. The name and logo represent more than just coffee, it represents a personality, a corporate image of success and achievement.

Starbucks: The Organization

 Starbucks 
History, Mission and Values


Starbucks is a coffee company founded in 1971 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. The mission of Starbucks is to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. To accomplish this mission Starbucks:

• Looks to provide the finest quality coffee
• Looks to be fully engaged with their customers and provide a welcoming environment
• Looks to be a force of positive action in the community.

Starbucks definitely has these values working for them. They have a strong reputation for corporate social responsibility and for providing high quality coffee in a comforting environment. Starbucks is one of the most profitable coffee companies in the world.

Starbucks' vision originated from the CEO Howard Schultz, who took a visit to Italy and became captivated with Italian coffee bars and the romance of the coffee experience. His experience inspired a vision to bring the Italian coffeehouse tradition back to the United States. A place for conversation and a sense of community. A third place between work and home. Starbucks has been successful in living out their vision because its success and popularity has turned the store into a sort of social hub where people meet, do homework, and socialize while enjoying free Starbucks wireless.

Besides prizing themselves on high quality coffee, Starbucks also sells teas, smoothies, pastries, yogurt, sandwiches, wraps, fruits, merchandise and brewing equipment. They have been able to branch out into a variety of products because they have built and established trust with their customers by providing them with high quality products. The company has been so successful that they have been able to branch out into college campuses and grocery stores.

Target Audience

Adults: Starbucks' main target audience is adults ranging from ages 25-40. Their decor and advertising appeal mostly to professional men and women in this demographic, who have a relatively high income. This group accounts for 49% of Starbucks' total business.

Young Adults: The company also appeals to young adults and college students through its free wireless, ice cream, smoothies and frappacino beverages, all which tend to be a tool for social connection. Starbucks also appeals to this demographic by staying current with social media. Young adults account for 40% of Starbucks sales.

Kids: Starbucks appeals to kids through its kid size drinks often referred to as "babyccinos", which a drinks like steamed milk and hot chocolate. The pastries and baked goods also appeal to this demographics. Kids account for 2% of Starbucks' Sales.