Starbucks Communication Strategies –

More Than Just a Cup of Coffee†

Chethana G Krishna*

Starbucks Corporation, with 25,734 retail outlets across 75 countries,

started its operations in 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Its social
media communication strategies have garnered millions of fans as it
judiciously makes use of the discreet features of the online and mobile
platforms for brand positioning and customer engagement. This paper
provides an insight into the communication and content management
strategies of Starbucks that engage both their partners and customers.
The study addresses how the new technologies aid a company in
benefitting their branding, positioning and engagement through
content marketing. Companies that would want to venture into content
marketing will obtain an insight into the real-time branding process,
the specific social media channels that can work for them, and the
internal departments in the organization which need to work in
tandem.

Introduction
Hootsuite, the widely used social media platform in partnership with We Are Social,
a global social media agency, conducted a survey on ‘Social Media and Digital Trends’
across the world in 2016 and released the report ‘Digital in 2017’1 on January 24, 2017.
According to the study,
• Global Internet penetration stood at 3.77 billion users’ or covered 50% of the
world population.
– There were 2.80 billion social media users or 37% of the population, 2.56
billion users were using mobiles to access social media which meant 34%
penetration.
– 83% of Americans had a social media account.
†
This paper is a revised version of the paper presented at the International Communication Management
Conference (2018) at MICA, Ahmedabad on January 12, 2018.

* Assistant Professor, Department of Soft Skills, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE – A Deemed to be University
u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: chethana.krishna@gmail.com
1
Simon Kemp (2017), “Digital in 2017: Global Overview”, available at https://wearesocial.com/special-
reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview, January 24.

© 2018 IUP.
Starbucks All Rights Reserved.
Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 23
 As per the study conducted by Jahn and Kunz2 , there are three main motivation
areas for consumers to use social networking sites.
• A relationship area, where the focus of the individual is to stay connected
and interact with others and participate in a social (online) life.
• Content acquisition and distribution based on the individuals’ interests.
• Self-presentation, which is related to the social context and for self-assurance
and personal identity.
When it comes to business, brands and marketing,3
• It was observed that 48% of Americans had interacted with one company or
institution over social media. Among those, 28% preferred to connect with
the brand or company first through social media rather than visiting a physical
store, 59% of Americans agreed that customer service via social media had
become easier.
• Facebook was considered number one as it had 1.65 billion users in 2016;
nearly 50 million businesses had Facebook pages, 2 million advertisers used
Facebook to market their brands and nearly 32% of Facebook users were
engaged with brands regularly.
• Instagram had the highest per follower engagement rate at 2.3% in comparison
with other social media networks; Instagram had 58 times more engagement per
follower than Facebook, with an order value at $65 from Instagram versus $55
from Facebook. A significant 68% of Instagram users engaged with brands
regularly.
This means that the Internet has complemented consumers to engage with brands.
The traditional one-to-many customer approach is evolving into a one-to-one approach
through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Social media networks
have changed the traditional customer-company relationship in many ways and
companies cannot remain ignorant of this new channel of marketing communication.
Businesses are trying to recognize, research and explore the opportunities for brand
building through customer engagement from the fan pages in these virtual networks.
Marketing managers are attempting to integrate their traditional marketing with social
networks as part of their marketing mix.
The contemporary shopper is furthermore involved in conversations on social media,
is well informed and looks for reviews, comments and recommendations for making
a purchase or for service delivery. The avant-garde consumer expects the brands to listen
to his/her needs and fulfill them. The buyer is not merely looking for sales promotions
2
Jahn Benedict and Kunz Werner (2012), “How to Transform Consumers into Fans of your Brand”,
available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/09564231211248444, February 19.
3
Kendall Walters (2016), “125+ Essential Social Media Statistics Every Marketer Should Know”, available
at https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers, November 30.

24 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

but aspires for a real-time engagement and customer service through posts, articles,
games, etc. These virtual environments have also enabled the consumers to form
communities across specific brands and share their interests, exchange information or
knowledge or merely express their loyalty. Companies have identified the significance
of these authentic conversations and have set up social media command centers to engage
the customers through live RSS feeds of their new products or events. Some of the
companies that have set up these command centers are Dell, Cisco and PepsiCo’s
Gatorade to name a few.4
This direct communication between the company and the consumer has helped the
companies to develop new products, influence and promote sales, obtain feedback,
engage the customer, improve brand loyalty and ultimately gain brand reputation across
these social networks. Starbucks is one such company which has a core social media
communications team that connects with beverage fans in over 30 countries across 12
social media platforms. Frappuccino, one of their brands that celebrated its 20th birthday
(in 2015)5, had more than 11.7 million followers on Twitter, 36 million likes on Facebook,
and 8.5 million fans on Instagram.6
A comprehensive understanding of the communication strategies adopted by
Starbucks in attracting its consumers is being taken up through netnography. Content
analysis on how these strategies are applicable to the Gen Y and Gen Z demography
in India is being done through an exploratory research.

About the Company: Starbucks

The company founded by three partners, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker,
in Seattle on March 30, 1971, was initially named Pequod (inspired by Moby Dick).
They found the name peculiar and later renamed it as Starbucks, chief mate on the
Pequod. Howard Schultz bought the company from its founders in 1987, which is now
known as Starbucks Coffee Company, with around 25,734 retail outlets across 75
countries, with the first store still operating at Seattle’s Pike Place Market.7
The US is the largest market for the coffee chain, followed by Canada, China, Japan
and the UK.8 Starbucks’ product range includes more than 30 blends and single-
premium coffees, hand-crafted beverages like Frappuccino coffee, merchandise like mugs
and accessories, fresh foods like sandwiches and salads, and various consumer products
of coffee and tea under the branded names VIA, Teavana, Tazo and Starbucks Doubleshot.
4
10 examples of social media command centers’, available at www.brandcdn.exacttarget.com/sites/
exacttarget/files/10-Examples-of-Social-Media-Command-Centers.pdf, 2013.
5
“Frappuccino Turns 20: The Story Behind Starbucks Beloved Beverage”, available at https://
news.starbucks.com/news/frappuccino-turns-20, March 25, 2015.
6
Rachel Madigan (2016), “How Starbucks is Killing it on Social Media”, available at https://medium.com/
digital-living/how-starbucks-is-killing-it-on-social-media-80fcd4398e4e, May 9.
7
www.news.starbucks.com, November 2017.
8
“Tata Starbucks Opens 100th Store in India”, available at www.thehindubusinessline.com, October 14,
2017.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 25

The company was considered one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013 by Fortune
due to its best business practices. The company, a billion-dollar organization, stood
number one worldwide as a specialty food retailer. Fortune magazine’s 2017 research
named Starbucks as the third-most admired food chain brands in the world.9 The company
that delivers the distinctive Starbucks experience to more than 85 million times per week
across the globe was also ranked number one in the areas of innovation, people
management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality management, financial
soundness, long-term investment, and quality of products and services in 2017. According
to Millward Brown market research firm, Starbucks was the most valuable fast food brand
in the world with a brand valuation at $44.23 bn in 2017.

Starbucks Logo’s Transition

Terry Heckler designed the legendary Starbucks logo in 1971. The ‘Siren’ is a two-tailed
mermaid, inspired by Moby Dick encrypted on an old 16th century Norse woodcut. It
has won several prestigious design awards for its futuristic design and intricate details.
The transition of the logo over the years is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Transition of the Logo Over the Years

Source: https://illuminatisymbols.info/starbucks-logo/. Accessed on January 23, 2018

It is considered as one of the most memorable emblems. The logo is imprinted on

the Starbucks cup and other Starbucks merchandise.

Starbucks India
Starbucks Corporation signed a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages Ltd in
2012 and opened its first store in Mumbai’s Elphinstone Building, Horniman Circle.
The outlets are branded Starbucks “A Tata Alliance”. The coffee chain positions itself
not as a seller of coffee but to provide experience and create a “third attractive place”
beyond home and the workplace.10
9
Fortune names Starbucks 2017’s third most admired company in the world, available at
www.newsstarbucks,com, February 16, 2017.
10
Paul Leinwand and Varya Davidson (2016), “How Starbucks’ Culture Brings its Strategy to Life”,
available at www.hbr.org, December 30.

26 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 The company has customized itself to its Indian customers in the following ways:11
• Procurement – Obtains Arabica coffees from its Kushalnagar plant in Coorg.
• Store Interiors – The Pune store, for example, has copper artifacts (to depict
the rich copper culture of the city) and a traditional swing.
• Food and Beverages – Offers Murg Kathi Wrap and Murg Tikka Panini at
Delhi’s Connaught place based on the local themes. It also sells Tazo Tea
and Himalayan bottled mineral water which are Tata brands.
• Merchandise – Introduced the ‘pour-over-set’ coffee brew serving
merchandise to attract the filter-coffee crowd of Chennai.
The company used outdoor campaigns and social media platforms to inform their
new store launches. Starbucks introduced a Facebook app ‘My Starbucks Brew’ through
which customers could choose their favorite beverage and win special Starbucks gifts.
The company also launched ‘My Starbucks Idea’ for Indian customers in 2014.12
The coffee chain opened its 100th store on its 5th year of entering India in October
2017 in Mumbai and planned to focus on growth by opening three more stores in Kolkata
in 2018. The joint venture operated in six cities in India—Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore,
Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad.13 The company’s sales volume was 60% from coffee
and 10% from tea. The company launched its new brand Teavana with 18 different
variants in India in January 2017. One of the varieties Indian Spice Majesty Blend is
a blend of full leaf Assam black tea infused with whole cinnamon, cardamom, cloves,
pepper, star anise and ginger. John Culver, Group President, Starbucks International and
Channel Development, stated during the 100th store opening that “India is one of the
most important markets that we operate in. One day, India will be among the top-five
markets that Starbucks operates around the world.” The joint venture was able to narrow
down its losses from 20.06 cr in FY 2016 to 16.13 cr in FY 2017.

Literature Review
Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is defined as the relationship that a company tries to maintain
with its customer base to foster their loyalty and awareness. Peter Verhoef and Katherine
Lemon, in their book, Customer Value Management: Optimizing the Value of the Firm’s
Base, view that customer behavior goes “beyond transaction, and may be specifically

11
Moinak Mitra (2014), “How Starbucks is Localizing to Crack the Indian Coffee Chain Market”, available
at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/corporate-dossier/how-starbucks-is-localizing-to-
crack-the-indian-coffee-chain-market/articleshow/38976431.cms, July 25.
12
Vandana Ahuja (2016), “Starbucks and Social Media: Striking a Chord with the Indian Consumer”,
available at http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/starbucks-and-social-media-striking-a-chord-with-the-
indian-consumer/, April 4.
13
“Starbucks Opens 100th Store as it Completes 5 years in India”, available at www.moneycontrol.com,
October 25, 2017.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 27

defined as a customer’s behavioral manifestation that has a brand or firm focus, beyond
purchase, resulting from motivational drivers”. This has been further studied by Benedict
Jahn and Werner Kunz who defined fan-page engagement as an interactive and integrative
participation in the fan-page community independent of the usage intensity of a member.
A research by Gallup indicated that those brands that engage customers witness 63%
lower customer attrition, 55% more spending and 50% higher productivity.14 Twitter
conducted a survey in 2016 that indicated if a customer tweets and receives a response
from a brand, he/she is more likely to spend 3% to 20% more in future purchases from
that company. The survey conducted among 3,139 users also indicated that 30% of
customers who received a response were more likely to recommend the brand to others.15
A small case to substantiate the above fact is explained here. Wendy’s chicken nuggets
made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the maximum number of tweets
numbering 3,435,067 as on May 9, 2017.16 It all began when a teenager, Carter Wilkerson
from Reno, Nevada tweeted to Wendy's “Yo@Wendys how many retweets for a year of
free chicken nuggets?” on April 6, 2017. This tweet went viral and he became known
as the Nugget Guy. The company Wendys received free publicity not only because it went
viral but was also covered by all newspapers for creating a world record. The earlier world
record was held by Ellen DeGeneres’ 2014 Oscar night selfie which presented celebrities
en bloc with 3.4 million retweets. This tweet actually underlined the American culture
of their preference to fast food over celebrity following.
Marketing campaigns, advertisements, content on websites, customer outreach through
social media, mobility and wearable devices are some of the ways through which
companies can obtain customer engagement. The main benefit of customer engagement
is to build relationship that is beyond purchasing. If customers are engaged, they become
repeat customers. While a lot of debate is going on about how to calculate the Return
on Investment (ROI) of customer engagement, related metrics for each channel can be
accounted for like website traffic, likes and shares on social media, text analytics of
customer sentiment, time taken to obtain responses and resolutions, click-through rates
in e-mail campaigns, viewership, Facebook and Twitter analytics and audience growth.
Rachel Happe in her Harvard Business Review (HBR) article “Calculating the ROI of
Customer Engagement”,17 designed a framework called ‘The CR’s Work Out Loud
Framework’18 which includes the following behaviors:
14
“State of the American Consumer: Insights for Business Leaders Report”, available at www.gallup.com,
2014.
15
Customer Engagement, available at http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/Customer-engagement,
January 2018.
16
Aja Romano (2017), “‘Nugget Guy’ Bests Ellen’s Record for Most Viral Tweet, pleases Wendy’s, gets
Nuggets”, available at www.vox.com, May 9.
17
Rachel Happe (2016), “Calculating the ROI of Customer Engagement, available at www.hbr.org, August 19.
18
Rachel Happe is a Co-founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable, a company dedicated to
advancing the business of community and building strategies for better engagement.

28 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 • Validate out loud—likes, shares, posts, comments, bookmarks, response to
posts—this is the first visible step of consumer behavior.
• Share out loud—share documents, graphics, photos, updates, ideas, stories—
this is the second step when content is being shared as the consumer feels
validated and contented.
• Ask and answer out loud—ask and answer questions—the third step when
the consumer finds the culture to be validating, supportive and trustworthy.
• Explore out loud—includes open-ended questions, the final step when the
consumer finds the community’s culture a safe place to explore.
Thunderhead in a blog defines, “engagement is a function of knowledge and trust
over time”. Engagement = Function of (Knowledge* Trust/ Time)19
The strategies that companies need to adopt to keep their customers engaged are
diverse and it begins with ‘active listening’. Every time a brand and a customer come
into contact with each other, it must create a value for both—the business and the
customer. The value of customer engagement can be calculated if the company is able
to generate knowledge and trust over a period of time. If this value sustains for a
prolonged period, it leads to long-term engagement.

Starbucks Venturing into Partner and Customer Engagement

Through Digitization
Due to a rapid expansion in 2008, Starbucks suffered declining same store sales and
their share prices also reduced to half since 2006. The store managers did not have
access to e-mail and the point-of-sale was run through outdated technological systems.
Senior leaders then took some strategic decisions on transforming the company into
a digital organization and aimed to engage both their partners and customers through
technology. An environment was created where employees called ‘partners’ could think
freely and contribute their ideas and strategies. This enabled the concept of community
involvement wherein baristas and employees got a specific page online to ideate and
discuss. Thus they also became an integral part of Starbucks online and social media
community.
Starbucks started the MyStarbucksIdea.com in 2008 for customers to share their
experiences, provide feedback, ideas for new flavors, store layout, advertising, in-store
music and opinions on packaging and service. The company tried to prove its credibility
by understanding the products that are well received, that need improvements, and that
are in demand and displayed the votes on the blog. The customers were thus empowered
to influence the trends and growth of this large global corporation.20 Various likeminded
19
Thunderhead, “Measuring the value and ROI of Customer Engagement”, available at www.thethunder
head.com, October 17, 2016.
20
Nathaly Hermida, “How Starbucks Connects with Customers Through a Strong Social Media Strategy”,
available at https://www.diligent.es/social-media-listening-strategy-starbucks/

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 29

communities sprung up like ‘free Wifi group’, ‘soy group’, ‘comfy chair group’ and
‘Frappuccino lovers’.21
Starbucks was one of the few companies which perfected the retail loyalty program
and gift card program through countless empirical studies with a practical and pragmatic
approach conducted diligently over decades. An empirical research indicated that 75%
of the gift cards were used by the original purchaser. This was one of the reasons for
the development of the mobile wallet. The digital transformation along with committed
leadership became Starbucks’ recipe for success. Since then, the company is striving
to create value to its customers and shareholders by adopting digital innovations. By
2013, Starbucks digital presence was seen in their website Starbucks.com, My Starbucks
Idea, Starbucks Digital Network, e-Commerce Starbucks Store and Mobile Starbucks
Card.22 This enabled Starbucks to drive 34.8 million unique visitors every month.
Among these, 7 million customers downloaded the mobile app. The company expected
that at least 10% of these customers would use the mobile Starbucks Card for in-store
payments.

Leveraging Mobile Technology

It all started on a clear spring day in 2009 when Starbucks started engaging its customers
on mobile with the simple and elegant mystarbucks application; developed by a genius
named, Benjamin Vigier, across its 16 stores,23 through which customers could locate
a store nearest to them, know more about coffees or suggest a new drink. In 2011, another
application, Starbucks Card Mobile, was introduced where payment could be made for
in-store purchases through a prepaid loyalty card using the on-screen version that could
be scanned by a simple 2D bar code system. Consumers could top-up funds from the
company website, mobile or in stores. Within two years, it was seen that 20% of loyalty
card transactions were done through mobile. This innovation also helped the company
to track its customers’ visits and their purchases.
In 2012, Starbucks invested $25 mn to keep pace with innovations in the mobile
technology by signing a partnership with Square. The Square Wallet, a mobile app-based
payment system, was introduced to Apple customers through the native passbook feature
that consolidated information like loyalty card, coupon and ticket on an iPhone or iPod.
Consumers could access this convenient feature and the company could save on
processing fees on transactions. In 2013, the company was able to save significantly as
the number of mobile transactions stood at 4 million per week among 8 million consumers.
The company also announced that 11% of its sales volume was through mobile wallet.

21
Shezray Husain et al. (2014), “Brewing Innovation”, available at http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/
lbs-case-study/how-starbucks-survived-the-financial-meltdown-of-2008/story/210059.html, September
28.
22
Michael Welch and Jerome Buvat (2013), “Starbucks: Taking the ‘Starbucks Experience’ Digital”, Capgemini
Consulting.
23
Brian Roemmele (2014), “Why is the Starbucks Mobile Payments App so Successful”, available at
www.forbes.com, June 13, 2014.

30 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 In the words of the CEO, Howard Schultz, “No single competency is enabling us
to elevate the Starbucks brand more than our global leadership in mobile, digital, and
loyalty. Starbucks is a clear leader in mobile payments and we are encouraged by how
consumers have embraced mobile apps as a way to pay.”
Starbucks subsequently test launched its own Mobile Order and Pay App in
December 2014 in its Portland, Oregon store. By September 2015, the app service was
available across 7,400 coffee shops in the US. 24 The App enabled customers to pre-
order online, estimate the wait time and skip the line. A separate ‘Bar’ area in the
coffee shop catered to these pre-orders. Other regular features like locating the nearest
store and pre-pay remained.
On February 22, 2016, Starbucks announced that the App would provide a
personalized experience to its 17 million users through Starbucks rewards for the dollars
spent. Customers earned two stars for every dollar spent instead of the earlier one-star
per visit. Customers had to earn 125 stars (approx. spend $63) to gain a free reward.
This loyalty program was considered one of the best in the industry with respect to
traction, growth and its adaptation with technical innovations. However, the consumers
started complaining that it was now difficult to earn free rewards.
Matthew Maurer, a blog writer, indicated in his blog ‘Maritz Motivation Solutions’
the customers reactions after Starbucks appended their Rewards program using the
social listening tool Adobe Social.
The graph in Figure 2 was plotted on the customers’ mentions of ‘Starbucks’ and
‘Rewards’ across three social media channels—Twitter, Tumblr, and WordPress; the first
spike of conversation with the announcement of the changed rewards program and the
second spike when the date of implementation was announced.

Figure 2: Graphical Representation of Customers’ Mentions

on Starbucks Rewards on February 22, 2016

Source: Matthew Maurer (2016), https://www.maritzmotivation.com/blog/

customer_loyalty/social-listening-and-starbucks-rewards-changes/, May 3

24
Aaron Smith (2015), “Starbucks Goes Nationwide with Order-ahead App”, CNN Money, September 22.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 31

 Starbucks had 12 million Starbucks Rewards members, 8 million mobile paying
customers (1 out of 3 used Mobile Order and Pay App) as on December 2016
(Figure 3). The upgraded homepage displayed rewards earned by the customer like stars,
trending offers and reward levels. Personalized content and offers based on order history
was another upgraded feature in the app.

Figure 3: Growth of ‘Mobile Order and Pay’ App

Source: https://www.geekwire.com/2016/coffee-chatbot-starbucks-unveil-starbucks-barista
-ai-technology-placing-mobile-orders/

The mobile app called the ‘digital flywheel’ (backed by Artificial Intelligence) had
13 million active members in the Starbucks Rewards program during Q1 of 2017 with
an increase of 16% year on year. The Mobile Order and Pay app represented 7% of
the US Company-operated transactions during Q1 which was more than double in
comparison to the same quarter in 2016. The caffeinated Siri version of ‘My Starbucks
Barista’ was unveiled on the investor day in December 201625 to 1,000 users for limited
beta testing in early 2017. The company teamed up with Amazon Alexa to make coffee
ordering easier through voice facility. The new chatbot allowed loyal customers to place
multiple orders, gauge their preferences and habits from previous orders and thus
enhance customer engagement.
The company introduced the mobile app to Indian customers in May 2017 to facilitate
mobile payments, register for the Starbucks rewards program, earn stars, track and
redeem rewards, obtain information on products and promotions, etc.

25
Maggie McGrath (2017), “Starbucks Mobile Order Grows, but not Enough to Lift Q1 Sales above
Expectations”, available at www.forbes.com, January 26.

32 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

Starbucks Customer Engagement Through Social Media Networks
Facebook
Starbucks’ official home page on Facebook debuted in 2008 and has 37,251,143 likes
and 35,840,839 visits (Table 1).26 It maintains different multilingual homepages for other
countries like India, the Middle East and Puerto Rico. Starbucks’ Facebook page looks
like a virtual coffee shop. The vibrant Wall consists of new products being launched,
customers' likes, shares, admiration for new flavors, requesting for continuation of some
seasonal flavors and occasional complaints. The Wall’s content tries to connect to its
customers with brand stories, community outreach, customer experience, customized
offers, jokes and challenges.27 The other category pages on Starbucks Facebook homepage
which have distinct fans are local business or place, brand or product, artist band or
public figure, entertainment and cause or community. It occasionally contains small
videos. Frappuccino and Pumpkin Spice Latte have their own Facebook pages and fans.

Table 1: Customer Engagement of Starbucks in Social Media Platforms

S. No. Starbucks Likes Followers Photos and Videos

1. Facebook 37.2 million 35.7 million 582 photos +
1,059 timeline
photos + 74
videos
2. Facebook Frappuccino 12 million 11.8 million 5,664 photos
(users) + 8
videos
3. Twitter 13500 11.9 million 1,837
4. Instagram – 15.9 million 1,536 posts
5. Instagram Frappuccino – 1.3 million 772
6. Pinterest – 328,624 No info
Note: * YouTube had a subscriber base of 148,450 and a viewership of 42.7 million since its inception
on November 30, 2005.

Starbucks Brand Frappuccino’s Social Media Presence

It all began when customers created a Facebook Frappuccino fan page in 2008 that
attracted a million customers. Starbucks observed this online community of beverage
loving fans and became involved in social media a year later. The company invested
in its own resources and used paid digital advertising on Facebook. The other features
on Facebook include location, Starbucks card and product offers through contests.
Enticing content is also in the form of photos, events, customer polls and discussion
forums on current topics. The Facebook page exhibits a joyful and exuberant personality
26
Starbucks, available at www.facebook.com, January 1, 2018.
27
Bernie Brennan and Lori Schafer (2010), Branded!: How Retailers Engage Consumers with Social Media
and Mobility, September 16, Wiley Publishers.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 33

like Frappuccino that can be customized to more than 36,000 combinations. This page
had 12,127,417 likes and 11,827,685 followers.28 This brand has its own website
www.frappuccino.com as well.
The company introduced new flavors like salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino,
Horchata Almond milk Frappuccino Blended Beverage and Midnight Mint Mocha
Frappuccino with customized suggestions in 2017. Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino
Dark cocoa and Frappuccino Roast Coffee’s profile picture were updated on the Facebook
page on May 10, 2017 as a summer drink. It garnered 11,000 likes and 985 shares in
the next 6 months.
Starbucks introduces Frappuccino’s Happy Hour Seasonal Campaign during May
every year. Starbucks intends to position Frappuccino as a summer beverage and creates
a buzz in Twitter with the #FrappuccinoHappyHour campaign by offering it at half the
price during that month. This has enabled Starbucks to create a brand image, position
the brand and also capture a considerable portion of the market share. When the Happy
Hour Campaign was introduced in May 2015 on Facebook, it garnered nearly 120,000
likes. On Twitter, many fans who proclaim that they adore Frappuccino and love to
marry it were presented a virtual engagement ring.
Starbucks unites the Frappuccino community through ‘we’ and ‘us’ language in the
posts; tries to personify the brand’s image with its ardent followers. In August 2012,
an interactive game Pumpkin Spice Latte was launched on the Facebook page.
Starbucks furthermore launched its first Food Truck in late 2015 in Los Angeles area
to serve Frappuccino and other specialty products. This allowed people on-the-move to
grab a drink in an accessible and convenient way. The Food Truck made customers go gaga
about it on Facebook and Twitter, even requesting for other locations like New York City.29

Facebook India
India’s digital landscape is also evolving due to government’s initiative on digital
development, the young and digitally-aware population, improved connectivity, growing
mobile penetration, digital payments and ecommerce is empowering India to become
a digitally powered economy.30 Groupon and Zomato were some of the companies who
tried to engage customers and provide personalized deals based on their browsing
patterns. This cost-effective ‘me-commerce’ pattern benefitted the marketer to focus on
the communication strategies and target the right customer. Customers are expressing
loyalty to their brands to obtain a better and customized brand experience.31 Flipkart,

28
Starbucks Frappuccino, available at www.facebook/frappuccino. Accessed on January 7, 2018.
29
Robert Brodo (2015), “Starbucks Growing by Innovative Marketing Strategies”, available at http://
www.advantexe.com/blog/business-acumen-review-starbucks-growing-through-innovative-marketing-
strategies, November 3.
30
“India Digital Customer Engagement, available at www.researchandmarkets.com, August 2017.
31
Jaisekhar Kothandaraman (2015), “The Changing Face of Customer Engagement in India”, available at
www.cxotoday.com, June 29, 2015.

34 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

Snapdeal, Makemytrip, and HomeShop18 were using third party services to drive
engagement and sales on their websites.32 However, studies and research on customer
engagement is still in its infancy in India.
Starbucks India page on Facebook had 1,146,888 likes and 1,143,722 followers.33 There
were 2,181 photos and an event heralding the opening of 100 stores on October 28,
2017 in India ‘Celebrating 100 stores, celebrating you’. The company offered all short/
tall handcrafted beverages at 100 on that day across its 100 stores. 4,200 customers
took part in the event and 8,700 indicated interest. Some customers’ queries and
complaints regarding the event were promptly answered. An event with the stand-up
comedian Sorabh Pant was organized by Khar, Mumbai store, which was attended by
130 consumers and 489 users expressed desire.
There were eight short attractive videos on the Facebook page from 2014-2016 and
as many as 33 in the year 2017. These videos covered new seasonal, festive products
and beverages, flavors, rewards programs, information on events, payment options,
merchandise, and surprises.
The ‘Posts’ section on Facebook has content that includes customer experience,
customer stories with #storyinEveryCup, photos, rewards, treats, new store alerts,
contest winners, gifts, new products, festive delights, merchandise, partner
accomplishments, events like music performances by different artists and bands and
holiday flavors. The event ‘#HowDoYouChristmas’ in December 2017 in which
customers had to upload a post, a picture or comment on their Christmas mood was
liked by 45K viewers and had 32 shares. Collectibles offered under #MyStarbucksRewards
and #MemberExclusive were liked by 111K people with just 52 shares. It can be
observed that even though many people liked the posts, the number of shares was
minimal. The Facebook page on the category Community had visitors’ stories, experience
and photos with Starbucks India being tagged and mentioned. This page had mostly
user-generated content rather than company-generated content.

Twitter
Starbucks official Twitter page, @starbucks, started in 2006, is a tool for customer service
(replacing customer service phone calls), marketing and public relations.34 Customers can
send in their ideas on the way the store operates, locations, new technology, etc. The
votes that support the idea is taken into account before implementation of the idea. The
customer who gave the idea also earns rewards. The customer has thus been involved
in future plans of the company with this Twitter handle. It helps Starbucks in two ways.
One, Starbucks need not conduct a research or an audience study before implementing
32
Srinivas Kulkarni (2013), “Indian Startup Aims to Improve Online Customer Engagement”, available at
www.zdnet.com, June 3, 2013.
33
Starbucks, www.facebook.com, January 6, 2018.
34
Mellison Allison (2009), “Starbucks’ Twitter Master Talks Shop, Gives Advice at Seattle Luncheon”,
available at www.seattletimes.com, November 11.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 35

the idea as it is already done, and two, the votes received prove what the audience wants.
In fact, Starbucks was spending more time in generating user content for engaging its
customers on Twitter through chats, live feeds, rewards, etc. Brad Nelson is the back office
personality for Starbucks tweets. While replying to customers Starbucks uses emojis, gifs
and caps lock to make the customers feel that they are talking to an acquaintance.
Starbucks maintains twitter accounts @mystarbucksidea, @starbucksjobs and
@starbuckslive (for streaming the Starbucks Annual General Body Meeting of
Shareholders) along with @frappuccino (204K followers and 25.2K tweets).
@starbucksprtnrs is where the partners (employees) of Starbucks communicate about
their training programs, news, earning aprons, honors and celebrations. @starbucksgold
is the Starbucks Rewards page which provides information of earning stars, contests
with the hashtag #BonusStarBingo. #MobileOrder and #AskAlexa were also trending.35

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte’s Social Media Presence

Pumpkin Spice Latte, an autumn beverage, introduced in 2003, has its own unique social
media identity #PSL and personality in Tumblr and Twitter with 111K followers.
Pumpkin Spice Latte is a celebrity with photos of its journey and activities it participates.
Tweets are sent as first-person narration which is hilarious and joyful. This encourages
readers to share it, which increases ‘follow’ rates. One Twitter post which said, “My
lederhosen are too tight! This is the würst” indicated Pumpkin Spice Latte has clothes.
It also has a (pumpkin) cat as a pet called Ginger. The Starbucks social media team
created a different persona and celebrity status for Pumpkin Spice Latte after noticing
that people follow celebrities more. Pumpkin Spice Latte became like a character of a
novel or a movie and attracted its own distinct followers.

Twitter India
Starbucks India Twitter page @StarbucksIndia, started in November 2012, had 147K
followers, 1078 likes, 178 followers and 5,071 tweets in 2017. The webpage had 964
videos and photos. It posts offers, treats, merchandise, customer stories, new store alerts,
products and winners of contests, gifts and events. The likes in the Twitter page contained
user-generated content. Starbucks social media team responds to customer tweets on a
one-on-one basis and it acts as a tool to solve customer grievances.

Instagram
Starbucks operates the Instagram account like a fashion icon with a cool pop-coffee
culture. It recommends coffee depending on weather, feeling, and emotion through high
definition photos. Its target segment is mainly college students and young professionals.
There were 20 million people engaged from mid-July till September 29, 2016 with only
77 posts. It means Instagram received 270K engagement per post.36
35
www.twitter.com/starbucksgold, Accessed on January 6, 2018.
36
Tripti Shrivastava (2016), “How Starbucks Generates Over 270K in Engagement for Each Instagram
Post”, available at https://simplymeasured.com/blog/how-starbucks-generates-over-270k-in-engagement-
for-each-instagram-post/#sm.00012p19gv15eseziy5q4afmrgrmv, September 29.

36 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 Hashtags were strategically used to create engagement and source user-generated
content. During the summer months, a themed campaign called #StarbucksOnIce
conducted every week was a combination of iced coffee and photography. A superb
strategy that created excitement kept the customers’ engaged and induced them to create
content for the brand. Extension of the themes with #StarbucksOnIce+Color,
#StarbucksOnIce+Nature and StarbucksOnIce+Floor received many photographs.
Instagram stories were employed to share exciting moments and tap current moods.
Starbucks put pictures of the social causes like diversity initiatives and accepting people
for their differences which attracted customers’ attention. The post with #RainbowDrinks
was the most engaging post in July 2016 with 381.7K likes. The fall’s new drink #PSL
pictured in front of Seattle’s Pike Place Market on September 28, 2016, received 361.5K
likes in one day. This nostalgic picture was one of the most engaged posts of September
2016. New seasonal flavors of the fall season further engaged the customers in that
month. In short, Starbucks posts are timely, interesting, informative, relevant and
meaningful.
On Instagram ‘#whereintheworld’ additionally encourages travel and exploration
with pictures of their locations in remote corners of the world. During the holiday
season, Starbucks conducted a design contest on its red cups called #RedCupArt and
posted the best designs acknowledging the designer. Customers whose designs are
displayed develop a strong connection with the brand and visit the store more often.
The Instagram page had 15.9 million followers with 1,536 posts.37

Instagram India
The page had 24.3K followers with 276 posts.38 Pictures of products, flavors, new stores,
events, merchandise, festive offers, contests and customer experiences garnered likes
and comments. For example, Starbucks India posted “Infused with the spirit of
celebration, the Golden Sparkle Frappuccino has rich espresso layered on mocha base,
topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with an elegant gold-sugar dusting!
Try it at our stores tomorrow” on October 24, 2017. It received 3,922 views and 31
comments with at least 20 people expressing desire to try it out soon. One customer
complained about the product Double Shot Mocha that he received in one of the stores.
Starbucks India immediately responded to the issue and said that the customer care
team will get in touch with the customer. Thus Instagram also acts like a customer
service tool for the company. Starbucks India posted about the new store opening at
Vega City Mall in Bangalore for which one customer appreciated the amazing wall art
in that store. In short, customers not only want to consume their products but also
express satisfaction and experience the store offers in terms of service, interiors,
ambience, etc.
37
Starbucks, available at www.instagram.com, Accessed on January 8, 2018.
38
Starbucks India, available at www.instagram.com, Accessed on January 8, 2018.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 37

YouTube
Starbucks Coffee’s YouTube channel has 148,165 subscribers and 515 videos.39
Starbucks ventured into YouTube on November 30, 2005 and garnered 42,789,528 views
as on January 6, 2018. High standards of creativity with various subsections like
playlists, Starbucks jobs, Starbucks rewards, How to, coffee recipes, web series
introducing 1st and main and Starbucks PSL pumpkin hatch 2017, Good Feels Good,
Starbucks College Achievement Plan, and Upstanders 2 were uploaded on their YouTube
channel. Informational videos like sourcing of coffee beans, origins of different coffee
blends, stories of farmers of Costa Rica and beautiful store locations are eye-catching,
appealing and short and have obtained huge viewership.
Starbucks’ Influencer Marketing strategies with YouTube stars Rosanna Pansino and
iJustine have a subscription of 4.4 million. The two stars participate in different coffee
tasting challenges which enthuses the viewers and make them crave for the products.
They also mention their other favorite products. For example on October 27, 2017, the
Starbucks Zombie Frappuccino Taste Test video by them had 961,735 views; 23K gave
an up vote and 517 down voted it.40 This 8-min video was enough time to build a
craving for the drink.

YouTube India
Though the company is not posting anything exclusively for the Indian audience, there
were 480,000 posts by users, newspersons, vloggers, and others on YouTube India about
the company, products and experiences.

Pinterest
Starbucks has an official account on Pinterest as well. It had 24 boards and 328.7
thousand followers.41 The boards contain items like secret menu, recipes, refreshers,
latte and health which are pinned. For example, the board Coffee Recipes has 85 pins
and 264,000 followers. Shop Starbucks had 884 pins and around 260,000 followers.
The other theme boards are How To’s, Frappuccino, Food, Starbucks Card, Siren Love
and so on. The pages contain high definition images, clear descriptions and extremely
popular text-based graphics that incite customers to scroll for more. Customers (pinners)
get engaged as they scroll down without any interruption. Starbucks’ rich and appealing
pictures increase the number of pinners. However, Starbucks does not have a separate
official page for India.

Starbucks 1912 Pike Blog

Starbucks blog 1912 Pike is the address of their first store in Seattle. It publishes
memorable human stories of Sumatra farmers, baristas and roasters. The partners
39
Starbucks Coffee, available at www.youtube.com, Accessed on January 6, 2018.
40
“Starbucks Challenge with Ro! | iJustine”, available at www.youtube.com, Accessed on January 8, 2018.
41
Starbucks, www.in.pinterest.com, Accessed on January 8, 2018.

38 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

contribute by voicing their experiences and learning. It acts as an internal communication
tool and unites people around coffee. Sections like latest news, farm to cup, how
to, taste and drinks, recipes, people, cool stuff now, places and coffee trivia are
covered. The farm to cup showcases ethical sourcing of coffee seeds and support to
farmers. How to use gadgets to make coffee, how to brew a latte, barista innovation
challenge are other contents. A blog post on support given by Arizona State University
for 7,100 full and part time Starbucks partners to obtain college degrees42 received 12,604
likes.

Market Segmentation and Brand Positioning

Starbucks has made great inroads into the American urban society more rapidly than
any other retail organization. The company is catering to the upscale customers and
has positioned its brand for comfort and experience rather than convenience through
quality in all the three areas—coffee, service and ambience.43 It was also one of the first
few companies to provide free wi-fi to its customers.

Logo
The company could engage its customers just through the white and green Siren—the
twin tailed mermaid. The company tried to emphasize that it intends not only to serve
coffee but much more. Even though the words ‘Starbucks Coffee’ have been removed
from the logo, it has positioned it in the minds of the consumers that Starbucks means
coffee. It also means that the company is trying to reposition itself not only for coffee
but for other products as well.44

Trust
Starbucks does not have a slogan but relies on its mission statement that defines
their values: “Our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person,
one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”. The company maintains consistency in
all their products and stores worldwide. The company also believes in being
responsible in terms of taking care of their partners, sourcing their coffee beans
ethically, maintaining diversity, minimizing environmental footprint and community
development. The CEO Howard Schultz conveyed to all the partners on July 25,
2016, that the company had endured for decades because of its values and guiding
principles. The trust among the partners has connected the customers and the
communities they serve.

42
“Thanks to your Support Starbucks Baristas are Earning College Degrees”, available at www.1912pike.com/
collegeplan, May 14, 2017.
43
Mike (2016), “Starbucks Marketing – 9 Ways they Employ Social Media Innovation”, available at
www.digitalsparkmarketing.com/starbucksmarketing, January 12.
44
Nancy F Koehn (2011), “Starbucks Logo Debate Shows Customer Engagement”, available at www.hbr.org,
January 10.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 39

Company Generated Content Versus User Generated Content
Company Generated Content
• Starbucks uses the distinctive attributes of each of the social media networks.
Facebook is used to post pictures and information such as events. Instagram
photos are eye-catching that helps to develop its brand image as a pop icon,
Twitter to interact with customers on a one-on-one basis to answer queries
and retweets, and YouTube to advertise its brand culture and influencer
marketing strategies. It also tries to portray a discrete lifestyle on YouTube
through documentaries, recipes, app instructions and emotional commercials.
Pinterest displays various theme boards which customers can pin. Each theme
board has several photos, recipes and merchandise. The mobile app stores
that the customers preferred to place orders helps them the next time while
placing orders. It maintains the reward points or stars and indicates the
playlist being played in the store that is nearest to him/her.
• Starbucks uses the cross-promotion strategy, for example, whenever a photo
is posted on Facebook, it shares it on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and pins
it on Pinterest. It wants to reach customers across all sites where they are
found aplenty. It not only improves visibility but also reaches a new audience.

User Generated Content

• A ‘buy 1 get 1’ holiday offer or a contest or event garners excitement through
likes, comments and shares. Thus an online community gets formed with likes
and followers, comments, photos, stories and experience. Vloggers, customer
reviews, food reviewers, and general public post videos on YouTube. This
has led to the new concept of word-of-eye and word-of-experience marketing.

Ideas Which Led to New Products and Partner and Customer Engagement
• MyStarbucksIdea was one of the earliest crowd sourcing platforms which, by
2011, had received 100,000 ideas; out of which 100 ideas were implemented
by 2013.45 The infograph (Figure 4) on customer engagement through My
Starbucks Idea is clearly depicted for 5 years (since 2008). 150,000 ideas were
received out of which 277 were implemented. The number of votes received
stood at a whopping 2,000,000.
• Thus the customers play a vital part in introducing new products in the
company. Starbucks saves on market research as the audience up votes indicate
acceptance.
• The Barista challenge is conducted every month at the Roastery and Tasting
Room at Seattle where basistas brew new drinks based on the theme of the
45
Shimeng Tong, “More than Coffee: Starbucks’ Social Media Presence Analysis”, available at https://
blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/st798/files/.../Starbucks-Shimeng-Tong.pdf

40 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 Figure 4: Infograph on Statistics of Crowd Sourcing Through MyStarbucksIdea

Source: http://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2015/02/my-starbucks-idea-the-starbucks-crowdsourcing
-success-story/ February 12, 2015

month. The winner’s drink gets featured in the Starbucks reserve Roastery
Experience Bar. Similarly challenges are conducted across stores, districts,
states, country and region-wise in all their locations worldwide. This
encourages the partners to be innovative, feel connected to the company. The
company also benefits as it can include new flavors and menus in its stores.
• Though ‘My Starbucks Idea’ majorly gets ideas for new flavors from customers,
there were 6,000 suggestions to bring in a small serving of Frappuccino from
its fans. Starbucks noticed these discussions and introduced the mini serving
size for all Frappuccino flavors at a price of 10 ounce on May 11, 2015. 46

Improved Sales Through Mobile Apps

• The Mobile Order and Pay launched in September 2015 accounted for 4%
of transactions. In some of the busiest stores of Starbucks, mobile transactions
comprised nearly 20% of transactions. There were 8 million Mobile Order and
Pay transactions in April 2016, higher than 6 million in the previous quarter
(Figure 5). This was because of the order earlier and pick them later at a specific
location. The app has been useful not only to improve sales but also to increase
customer loyalty and augment footfall.
46
Responding to Customers, “Starbucks Launches the Mini Frappuccino”, available at http://lulop.com/
en_EN/post/show/93720/responding-to-customers-starbu.html , May 12, 2015.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 41

 Figure 5: Graphical Representation of Mobile Order and Pay Transactions

Source: Starbucks Digital Strategy Drives Sales (2016), http://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-

digital-strategy-drives-sales-2016-4?IR=T, April 26

Kevin Johnson, CEO and President of Starbucks when presenting the highlights of
fiscal year 2017 emphasized that “Food, beverage and digital innovation are bringing
customers into our stores at the same time as ongoing operational improvements are
enabling us to drive increased throughput—particularly in our busiest stores at peak
—and deliver a further elevated Starbucks Experience to our customers.”47

Starbucks ‘Give Good’ Campaign

On November 9, 2017, Starbucks set off the season with a holiday beverage through
the campaign Share Event via an interactive Facebook live broadcast with the year’s
theme ‘Give Good’. The festivities began with Share Good, Give Good Facebook Live
Mural event in New York City where a group of painters, muralists and illustrators
created murals depicting the spirit of giving. Customers could view the art being created
on the Starbucks holiday cup on a large canvas (8 x 16 feet size) either on the street
or on Facebook Live and then add their ideas using the hashtag #GiveGood on Facebook.
As part of the Share Event campaign, every customer who bought one beverage between
2 to 5 pm every day from November 13, 2017 could gift one more beverage to a friend
for free in the US. Two new holiday beverages Toasted White Chocolate Mocha and
47
“Starbucks Reports Q4 and Full Year Fiscal 2017 Results”, available at www.investor.starbucks.com,
January 11, 2017.

42 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

Chestnut Praline Chai Tea Latte along with Holiday Bakery and New Holiday
Merchandise with the theme ‘Give Good’ were introduced for the holiday season.
The Company could have just given a 1+1 offer, but instead it wanted to showcase
it was socially responsible. It also introduced two new holiday beverages to its customers
to draw their attention. In this way, it could engage with the customers even more.

Innovation in Campaigns
In late 2015, Starbucks introduced #RedCups on Twitter to herald the Christmas season
and spread cheer. A custom emoji appeared in every tweet that included #RedCups.
Videos, gifs and images were inserted to celebrate the range of festive drinks.48

Brand Communication Strategies of Starbucks

According to Klopper and North,49 for any brand to succeed, the main three verbal and
visual properties are brand tone and voice, brand symbols and brand story. The brand
symbol ‘Siren’ has become synonymous with Starbucks. Starbucks is considered to have
its own online brand persona and voice and has become a lifestyle choice for many
of its customers.
• On Facebook, it unites the Frappuccino community through ‘we’ and ‘us’ language
in the posts; tries to personify the brand’s image with its ardent followers.50
• Tweets are sent as first-person narration which is hilarious and joyful with
quirky pictures, gifs and short recipes of beverages.
• On Pinterest, the pages contain high definition images, clear descriptions and
extremely popular text-based graphics to entice the customer and scroll for more.
• On Instagram, Starbucks tried to project its brand image as a pop icon.
• On YouTube, it focuses on stories from the inception of Starbucks, sourcing
of coffee beans, marketing campaigns, and new products endorsed by YouTube
stars Rosanna Pansino and iJustine. They also have short cartoon web-series
Introducing 1st and Main and Starbucks PSL Pumpkin Hatch 2017.
Matt Flickinger, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, explained that
communicating through personalized messages, offers and uniquely generated content
based on customer behavior and anticipated behaviors has increased footfall in the stores
(Figure 6). Customers were also seen to shift to the new Starbucks Rewards program.51
48
Eimear Lambe (2016), “Twitter Reveals Insights from Best Social Campaigns of 2015”, available at https:/
/www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/twitter-reveals-insights-best-social-campaigns-2015/1380415, January
22.
49
H B Klopper and E North (2011), Brand Management, Pearson Education.
50
“How Starbucks Social Media Team Captures the Personality of a Beverage”, available at https://
news.starbucks.com/news/how-the-starbucks-social-media-team-captures-the-personality-of-a-
beverage, May 6, 2015.
51
Todd Bishop (2016), “Coffee from a Chatbot: Starbucks unveils’My Starbucks Barista’ AI Technology
for Mobile Orders”, available at www.geekwire.com, December 7, 2016.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 43

 Figure 6: Personalized Messages, Offers and Content for Mobile Users

Source: https://www.geekwire.com/2016/coffee-chatbot-starbucks-unveil-starbucks-barista-
ai-technology-placing-mobile-orders/ dated December 7, 2016

• Starbucks keeps its post vibrant with colors, peppy, funny and engaging. The
photos and videos are eye-catching and have high definition clarity.

• The company does not try to market but tries to build relationship with
customers by giving brands a personality or a human touch. The response
from the social media team does not appear to be scripted but natural and
spontaneous. The customer complaints are handled with great dexterity and
a solution to the problem is initiated.

• Each country is encouraged to maintain their own Facebook page. For example
Starbucks India has a separate Facebook page to engage its own customers.

Starbucks: Customer Engagement in India

2,181 photos on Facebook were user-generated. YouTube India did not have a
separate page, but many posts of customers’ experience have been noted
(Table 2).

• The loyalty program of Starbucks India rewards, which was initiated in 2014,
had 250,000 members in May 2017.

• Footfall: In the event to herald the 100th store was held on October 28, 2017,
4,200 customers took part and 8,700 indicated interest.

• My Starbucks Idea – India: Starbucks was using customer involvement in

creating new flavors thus engaging the customer in co-creating their strategies,

44 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 Table 2: Customer Engagement of Starbucks
in Social Media Platforms (India)

S. No. Starbucks Likes Followers Photos and Videos

1. Facebook 1,146,868 1,143,705 2181 photos
(users)+ 41
videos

2. Twitter 1,078 147,000 966

3. Instagram – 24.4 K 277

4. Pinterest – No Info No Info

to develop new products or for enhancing customer experience. The number

of up votes would further increase the community engagement. There was
a ‘leader board’ on the page that tracked the frequency of customers, those
giving ideas, voting, or commenting on others' ideas. The customers’ active
involvement and participation made them to obtain rewards like higher rank
on the page as they updated the top ten rankers in the e-community page.
Thus the company was able to psychologically motivate the consumers to visit
the virtual arena often.

Objectives
This paper is an effort to look at how Starbucks:

• Employs social media and mobile app as its strategic partner to connect to
its store partners, influence customers and also create a fan following.

• Attempts to understand how content marketing is useful in brand positioning

through audience engagement and thereby improve foot fall, purchase and
influence other customers especially the Gen Y and Z demography in the
Indian scenario.

Data and Methodology

Exploratory research through netnography52 and content analysis method was done to
understand how social media channels were able to engage Starbucks customers both
in India and the US. The study considered Gen Y and Gen Z demography for analyzing
the consumer engagement on content of Starbucks social media pages.

Generation Y, Echo Boomers or Millenniums kids (Born: 1977-1994 Coming of Age:

1998-2006) are known as incredibly sophisticated, technology wise, immune to most
52
“Netnography is the branch of ethnography (the scientific description of the customs of individual
peoples and cultures) that analyzes the free behavior of individuals on the Internet that uses online
marketing research techniques to provide useful insights”.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 45

traditional marketing and sales pitches…as they not only grew up with it all, but have
seen it all and been exposed to it all since early childhood. Gen Y members are much
more racially and ethnically diverse and they are much more segmented as an audience
aided by the rapid expansion in Cable TV channels, satellite radio, the Internet, e-zines,
etc. Gen Y are less brand loyal and the speed of the Internet has led the cohort to be
similarly flexible and changing in its fashion, style consciousness and where and how
it is communicated. Gen Y kids often raised in dual income or single parent families
have been more involved in family purchases…everything from groceries to new cars.
One in nine Gen Yers has a credit card co-signed by a parent.

While we do not know much about Gen Z kids yet (Born: 1995-2012 Coming of
Age: 2013-2020), we know a lot about the environment they are growing up in. This
highly diverse environment will make the grade schools of the next generation the most
diverse ever. Higher levels of technology will make significant inroads into academics
allowing for customized instruction, data mining of student histories to enable pinpoint
diagnostics and remediation or accelerated achievement opportunities. Gen Z kids will
grow up with a highly sophisticated media and computer environment and will be more
Internet savvy and expert than their Gen Y forerunners.

An open-ended questionnaire (see Appendix) was sent based on random sampling

to those who specifically belong to the Gen Y population (since they are young graduates
who have started earning). Only 41 responses were taken for the study since all the
details were filled by these respondents. Gen Z sample was taken from the BBA II year
students (from the author’s class) who were asked to open the Starbucks pages on their
smartphones through app or social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram, YouTube, etc. They were allotted 45 minutes and asked to write a page on
what they felt when they viewed the pages, what attracted them or engaged them to
read further, the same is analyzed and interpreted.

All the numbers represented in the paper are directly taken from the social media
platforms. The responses of the consumers on the various pages were collected and
monitored. The number of ‘likes’, ‘retweets’, ‘number of shares’, ‘emojis’, ‘questions
aired and responses received from company people, influencers impact on audience
(especially in YouTube), participation and selfies of using the product on the Facebook
pages were done elaborately. Real time data was captured for two months from October
2017 to January 2018 on a daily basis.

Results and Discussion

The exploratory study was initially conducted among 41 Gen Y and Gen Z people. An
open ended questionnaire of 16 questions was circulated.

46 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

Among the respondents, 46.3% belonged to the age group of 18-24 years, 39% in the
age group of 25-35 years, 7.4% belonged to the age group of 35-45 years and 7.3% of
45 years and above. So, the study was predominantly conducted for the Gen Y and
Gen Z demography mostly postgraduate students (77%) and young professionals (18%).
Among the sample, 77% were males and the rest females. 60.5% communicated that
their annual income was less than 5 lakh, 18.4% with income between 5-10 lakh
and 15.8% with income between 10-20 lakh.

100% of the sample were active on Facebook. The other social media pages in the
order of preference were Instagram and Twitter. Only 38% conveyed that they have
visited the Starbucks India Facebook page, 10% Instagram page and the rest have not
visited any of Starbucks India pages.

40% respondents who visited the Starbucks page conveyed that the promotional
offers and deals attracted them. 15% said that photos, logo, festive images, videos and
stories were creative and the page was very dynamic and responsive. All the respondents
indicated that they visited the page rarely (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Respondents Indicating the Number of Visits to

Starbucks in Hyderabad

When asked which product they usually purchase after looking at the page,
20% of them said they prefer coffee, Frappuccino, hot chocolate and 3% said ice
beverages. Only 10% indicated that they have recommended it to their family and
friends. Only 5% indicated that they belonged to two communities of Starbucks,
Starbucks India and Cherrydale Starbucks. 10% had availed the 100 offer on October
28, 2017 and 3% availed the 'buy one, get one free’ Holiday drink on September 13,
2017. The rest had not availed any promotional offers. None of them had contributed
to mystarbucks idea.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 47

 Both the Gen Y and Gen Z population were highly attracted to the content and
communication strategies of Starbucks. They were highly attracted to the contents on
the website and social media platforms and the offers/events given/conducted by
Starbucks. Some observed the free gifts/ offers provided so that they need not pay more
for the products. However, majority of the sample indicated apprehensions when they
looked at the price of the products offered. They also wrote that when they could coffee
or tea at lower costs in small kiosks, they will visit Starbucks to taste other products
and experience the ambience. Some of them also indicated in their observations that
they can visit Starbucks occasionally or for celebrating a birthday party/ or an event.
The observations varied depending on the individuals’ interest. While some looked
at the number of likes and shares and immediately became a part of the community,
some were interested in the new stores and new flavors being introduced. Many of
the respondents were looking if there were any immediate events or offers. Almost all
the respondents were expressive about the location of the stores in Hyderabad and said
that they had felt a craving for the drinks and would explore the store in the near future.
In short, the AIDA model of marketing communication worked for the young audience.

Inferences from the Survey

When suggestions were sought, many expressed that Starbucks should organize offers
that could be redeemed through social media activities, some wanted a forum to be
started, but many of them responded that the company should look at the pricing strategy
or provide more discounts. This indicated that the customers in India are majorly price
conscious and are not engaged or excited about the content online.
Another survey was conducted among 80 undergraduate students who were asked
to open the social media pages of Starbucks and point out the communication strategies
that the company employs to engage its audience. The interpretation of the studies can
be explained using the 7 Ps of the Service Marketing Mix.

Product
Nearly 25% of the respondents conveyed that they would like to visit Starbucks to try
new flavors and customized drinks. Almost all of them voiced that Starbucks is
synonymous to coffee. Though Starbucks has several tea flavors introduced into its
menu, the Gen Y and Gen Z population would like to try out more variants of coffee.
Many would like to taste the virtual drink featured in the social media pages.

Pricing
70% of the respondents said that coffee is quite expensive for Indians. In fact the survey
‘Latte Index’ by a US consumer firm ValuePenguin on the price of a tall hot latte across
44 countries reported that Starbucks coffee in India stood 5th in its pricing53 as shown
in Figure 8.
53
“India Among the Most Expensive Places to Order a Starbucks Latte”, available at www.livemint,com,
May 12, 2017.

48 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 Figure 8: Comparative Price of Starbucks Tall Latte in Various Countries

The respondents also suggested that Starbucks should reduce the price to attract
more customers from the middle class. However, the company has positioned itself as
a premium brand in India. 30% of the respondents expressed that they were ready to
bear the additional cost to experience the ambience and taste Starbucks products.

Place
Nearly 30% of the respondents conveyed that they would like to explore and experience
the ambience, the soothing music, the coffee aroma and to be a part of the young
community since Starbucks is majorly located in malls or upmarket places where the
presence of java crowd is the most. This was further emphasized by Manmeet Vora,
Director, Marketing and Category of Tata Starbucks that “As far as marketing is concerned,
the coffee chain continues to bet big on experiential marketing”. He stated, “For us, 95%
of our emphasis is on engagement marketing, not on passive, one-sided communication,
our focus is always on how to put engagement in the whole communication.”54

Promotion
The company conducts events in the form of celebrities and stand-up comedians
visiting the store and conducting games and contests. This was found very appealing
to nearly 80% of the respondents. Other offers like discounts, e-coupons, loyalty
programs, membership cards, Barista Bear, tote bags, limited edition gift sets, web
series and other customized merchandise, referral codes and Starbucks Pay enthused

54
Priyanka Nair (2016), “For Starbucks India, it is all About Creating the ‘Third Place’ Experience”,
available at www.economictimes.com, December 24.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 49

70% of them to visit the Starbucks store. They indicated that the high definition, eye-
candy photos and videos with subtle advertising messages, influencer marketing
strategies, animations, stories of professionals and partners, quotes on tissue papers
attracted them. Some announcements and secret messages on Twitter to get the coffee
culture community also excited them. 40% respondents liked the sneak peek of the
new products on Instagram, coffee-related gadgets, tea rituals, store design, art in
Pinterest, videos on origins of different coffee blends, unique cartoon characters and
Rosanna Pansiono and iJustine’s videos on YouTube and stringing pictures in
Snapchat.

People
20% of the respondents conveyed that the service quality, the take-away bags that create
livelihood opportunities to disabled people and plantation workers, introducing their
employees, social responsibility events, ethical sourcing of their coffee beans and the
feeling of empowerment when they suggest ideas make them emotionally attracted to
the company. The Starbucks social media team’s direct communication to each and every
customer, relatable, inspiring and engaging content and memes were highly appreciated
by all the millennials.

Process
Almost 40% of the respondents were overwhelmed to note that consistency was
maintained in all the stores with respect to taste along with service quality and
exceptional experience. The company’s eco-friendly products and ethical sourcing were
added attractions. They also found customized menu offerings in different locations of
the store like Delhi and Chennai.

Physical Evidence
The ambience of the store, the digital promotion techniques with physical evidence,
and viral campaigns by fans on seasonal flavors of summer such as Unicorn Frappuccino
spurred 60% of them to visit the store.

Conclusion
Companies try to build their social media base by increasing the number of fans.
Starbucks, on the other hand, has endeavored to build relationship and connections
with their fan base and less concentrated on number of fans, sales or revenue. Starbucks’
Alexander Wheeler conveyed that the firm’s social media strategy “isn’t a marketing
initiative. It isn’t a PR initiative. It’s cultivating and creating great consumer value and
great consumer relationships.”55 Starbucks consistently keeps its customers engaged by
offering deals, richer experience, interesting stories about their coffee brands and photos
of their merchandise. The company utilizes the key attributes of each social media
55
Ernan Roman (2013), “Starbucks: Social Media Revenue Based on Relationships”, available at https://
www.huffingtonpost.com/ernan-roman/starbucks-social-media-re_b_2426209.html, March 10.

50 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

channel wisely. It views whether they have been able to provide brand experience to
the customers. Every time the company posts on social media, it emphatically checks
the comments received, the number of likes, not just the number of followers. The
company also encourages its fans to share the content with their friends which generates
goodwill and continuous news feeds. Fans and friends of fans were both seen to generate
revenue by visiting the stores because of this constant engagement online.56 Broadly,
it was observed that Starbucks user-generated content reached double the fan base, i.e.,
more to friends of fans as fans forward content to their friends—a process which
Facebook calls ‘amplification’. A joint study by comScore and Facebook was conducted
in 2017 to obtain unique insights on social media marketing. According to the study
Starbucks gained 38% increase in in-store purchases due to amplification.57
In the HBR article, “The Ultimate Marketing Machine”, it was mentioned that
Starbucks was successful in purposefully positioning its brand for obtaining functional
benefits (pick-me-up products like merchandise), emotional benefits (coffee drinking as
a social occasion) and societal benefits (sustainability – sourcing coffee by fair trade)
through its content marketing strategy by engaging its customers, enriching customer
experience and deepening relationships through personalized offerings. Starbucks is
therefore considered as the leading consumer brand that has utilized the opportunity
of both social media and mobility channels not only to communicate its strategies and
culture but in also generating customized content for engaging customers across
geographies.58 The company’s recent foray into artificial intelligence for the Digital
flywheel strategy further integrates the digital and real world by connecting the brand,
user and consumer experience.59
Starbucks is engaging more deeply—and more frequently—and expanding its base
of loyal customers faster and more consistently today than ever before.
– Howard Schultz, Starbucks Chairman and CEO, January, 2017.

56
“The Power of Like – How Social Media Works”, comScore and Facebook, available at www.comscore.com,
2011.
57
Ernan Roman, “Starbucks: Social media revenue based on relationships”, available at
www.huffingtonpost.com, December 6, 2017
58
Bernie Brennan and Lori Schafer (2010), Op. cit.
59
Michelle Lodge (2017), “Starbucks Will Soon Use this New Artificial Intelligence to Tempt you into
Buying More Coffee”, available at www.thestreet.com, July 30, 2017.

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 51

 Appendix
Questionnaire

A survey is being conducted to understand how customers are engaged through the
social media strategies of Starbucks in engaging and influencing other customers,
improve footfall, purchases for the Gen Y and Gen Z Indian demography. We request
you to please complete the survey form.
Please tick the right option:

1. Age Group

18-24 years

25-35 years

35-45 years

45 years and Above

2. Gender

Female

Male

3. Occupation

Student

Employed

Other

4. Annual Income (in )

Below 5 lakh

5-10 lakh

10-20 lakh

20 lakh and Above

5. Name the social media pages you are actively involved.

6. Which social media page of Starbucks do you like the most?

7. What attracts you to visit the page?

8. How frequently do you visit the page?

52 The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2018

 Appendix (Cont.)

9. Which product and brand of Starbucks do you purchase after looking at the
page?
10. How many people have you recommended to read the Starbucks page? On
which social media website?
11. Which community in the Starbucks page do you belong to?
12. Name the promo activities (offers/discounts) that you were a part of in the
last three months?
13. Have you contributed to their #mystarbucksidea. If Yes, please share the idea?
14. Which product pages/ brands make you engaged and look for more updates?
15. On which of the social media platforms do you share Starbucks content and
your experience?
16. List some suggestions for Starbucks to improve their social media pages?

Reference # 50J-2018-09-02-01

Starbucks Communication Strategies – More Than Just a Cup of Coffee 53

Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.