Be well Steve Jobs. You will be missed…

Which case will it be? Vote now!

Thanks for voting!

~ J.

The coffee of the people: that’s how I perceive Starbucks. I strongly believe that Starbucks had a significant impact on the development of the social community. I grew up with Starbucks and was always drawn by its love for people and for its willingness to provide unforgettable social experiences. I spent countless hours studying at Starbucks during my University years and guess what, I ended up meeting a host of new people, simply through one common interest: the love of coffee, Starbucks coffee.

Quick Starbucks stats:

- Present in over 55 countries around the world.

- Has over 17,000 stores worldwide

- Has approximately 137,000 employees.

- Over 24 million likes on Facebook

- Over 2.5 million Facebook check-ins worldwide

- Over 1.6 million Twitter followers

What’s not to like? Starbucks owes much of its success to Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz. Mr. Schultz is a man with a plan and when Starbucks was losing steam in 2006, he quickly came back and turned the company around. What happened? The business efforts became diluted and the company was growing at too quick a pace. It’s core brand promise, to provide consumers with an unequivocal social experience, was being undervalued by upper management and employees. It was time for Mr. Schultz to make a change. After halting store expansion, reorganizing management staff, and implementing training sessions for baristas, Mr. Schultz helped Starbucks find its spark again.

The campaign of the people:

Starbucks even had a role to play in encouraging the American people to vote during the 2008 presidential elections. With the help of agency BBDO it ran a 60-second ad that played mostly on emotions:

You & Starbucks, it’s bigger that coffee. If you care enough to vote, we care enough to give you a free cup of coffee. Starbucks invited consumers who voted on election day to visit a Starbucks store to redeem their complimentary tall cup of brewed coffee.

The campaign saw an influx of controversy on its social media platforms. Rumors started spreading that Starbucks was trying to influence how people voted. Starbucks then quickly responded to this by offering free coffee to any customer who requested it on Nov. 4th. Overall, the campaign succeeded on several fronts:

- Starbucks served more than 2 million cups of coffee on Nov. 4th (two and a half times more than on a typical weekday)

- The company saw an incredible sales increase in pastry products

- An undeniable sense of community was restored at store level

It goes without saying that a great social media story unfolded from this campaign. After the 60 second TV spot aired only once the Saturday before the elections, during SNL programming, activity on Starbucks’ social media sites was buzzing. Not only did Starbucks send an e-newsletter to all cardholders, but it also started campaigning on Twitter. Starbucks also launched its official Facebook page as this election campaign unfolded. To help fuel its Facebook page fanning and engagement, Starbucks purchased a series of ads. One Facebook ad showcased the actual election video and another invited people to come to a Starbucks store atfter they voted in order to redeem their free cup of coffee. People were also asked to RSVP to this 1-day event, triggering activity in consumer news feeds and on their profiles. The campaign was quickly becoming social by design. In total, 89 million people were exposed to the election campaign in some way, with Facebook fueling the widespread exposure.

Starbucks continues to cater to its consumers by actively responding to their needs. The company currently has in place a very successful loyalty program and has responded to the need to have more “green” in-store materials. As well, in a recent partnership with Apple, Starbucks has refined its iTunes pick of the week program to include iphone apps, samples of books from the iBookstore, television episodes and other mediums. The company also continues to engage with its consumers on a regular basis on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. In fact, its Facebook page is continuously featured as a top contender for best corporate Facebook page.

In sum, Starbucks has successfully restructured its business and Marketing platforms in order to stay true to its brand promise and cater to consumer needs. No other brand has been able to create a similar online and offline social experience.

I drink to you Starbucks.

~ J.

Welcome to my blog dear readers! As a Marketing and Branding fanatic and workaholic, I vow to bring you winning and timely integrated Marketing best practices that could help you stay ahead of the curve when developing your own business plans. Ever wonder about how Starbucks got its footing and how well its Marketing tactics are doing? Or about how the accessible luxury brand Coach weathered the recession? Or better yet how Facebook is responding to Google‘s recent ventures? You’ll find it all right here, and more. So stick around, read up, and please reach out to let me know which brands you’re curious to know more about.

I’ll leave you with an inspiring quote. I was lucky enough to have met one of my idol veteran CEOs, Jack Welch, a couple of years ago in New York. He had wise words to say to the next generation of leaders:

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”

Next CEO I’d love to meet: none other than Howard Schultz. It’s no surprise that I’ll be dedicating my first official blog post to Starbucks. Stay tuned!

~ J.