Branding Evolution
The media business is percolating with over-the-top
content — shows, series, events, and whole channels that bypass cable and reach
consumers through social media, the Web, and other platforms. So it may not
come as a surprise that coffee shops are getting into the game.
This fall saw the introduction of “Upstanders,” a Web-based
series that uses video, podcasts, and text to tell the stories of 10 ordinary
people creating positive change. Brought to you, literally, by Starbucks.
In a press release, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a former Washington Post editor who is senior vice president
for public affairs at Starbucks, said that “Upstanders” shares stories of
inspiring Americans that “are often ignored by traditional news organizations,
with millions of our fellow Americans through Starbucks’ unparalleled
platform.”
Several keywords and phrases in that sentence — “shares,”
“inspiring,” “traditional news organizations,” “Starbucks’ unparalleled
platform” — illuminate how the company’s thinking about content has evolved in
today’s mobile- and social-first world. For “Upstanders” is aimed less at
selling coffee or other products, and more at enhancing Starbucks’ brand
promise and deepening consumer engagement.
As it uses media to create personalized, relevant
experiences its consumers desire, Starbucks is breaking out of the traditional
mold. It is relying on its own creativity instead of the expertise of a media,
entertainment, or advertising company. It is focusing distribution on its own digital
channels — among them its social media platforms, its mobile apps, and its
online and in-store digital network — rather than on traditional outlets or
even its physical stores. And the coffee chain trusts that audiences won’t care
who created the content as long as it is genuine, transparent, informative, and
entertaining.
This approach represents an evolution, if not
quite a departure, from Starbucks’ past media efforts. A decade ago, before the
Internet had developed into the robust entertainment platform it is today,
Starbucks sought to become a cultural tastemaker by turning its physical stores
into a retail channel for books, music, and movies on a mass scale. In 2006, it promoted Mitch
Albom’s second novel, One More Day, with
discussions and readings as part of a newin-store book program. It
promoted the Lionsgate movie Akeelah
and the Beeon coffee cup sleeves and coasters that
encouraged customers to spell difficult words (the movie was centered on a
spelling bee). It established an in-house media division, Starbucks
Entertainment, and hired talent agency William Morris to find projects to market
in its stores.
But its most ambitious effort was in music,
which has always been an important part of the atmosphere Starbucks aims to
create in its stores. The company offered a carefully curated selection of CDs
at the cash register — and sold millions of them. In 2004, about one-third of
Ray Charles’s platinum duets CD, Genius Loves Company, were sold in Starbucks. The company later bought digital music company Hear Music and
launched a record label that
signed its own artists (Sir Paul McCartney being the most notable among them).
“We believe strongly that we can transform the retail
record industry,” Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz said in 2004.
That didn’t quite happen. The company stopped selling CDs in
2015. Schultz may have been wrong about transforming the retail record industry
— in fact, there wasn’t much the coffee chain could do about the digitization
of music. But he was dead on as an early proselytizer of the power of social
media. After reclaiming the CEO title in 2008, Schultz implemented a holistic social media marketing strategy that
not only helped reverse a sales decline, but also paved the way for a new media
strategy.
In the years since, the company has become a
leader in harnessing the social aspect of social media. Its Instagram
followers, for instance, primarily control Starbucks’ content with
fan-submitted images. “My Starbucks Idea” is a social platform where customers
can submit ideas for new drinks, food, and merchandise. And its “Starbucks
Rewards” program offers deals, free music downloads, and other perks via its
iOS and Android apps. Today, more than 25 percent of all Starbucks transactions
are conducted through the apps.
With each engagement on its social platforms, website,
and apps, Starbucks is gathering data and learning about its customers’
behaviors and interests, which it can use to create relevant content
experiences. So instead of pushing new bands’ CDs, it is instead developing
projects like “Upstanders” based on its impressions of its consumers’
interests. Put another way, Starbucks is moving away from selling media to earn
a profit to creating media that engenders loyalty and deepens customer
engagement. The belief and expectation are that this will pay off in the form
of longer-term relationships and connections.
“Upstanders” is a
perfect example of this new strategy. The company has always been vocal about
social issues, from healthcare and education to open carry and race relations.
In that vein, the inspirational and aspirational nature of “Upstanders” neatly
fits with Starbucks’ brand reputation. Some of the subjects covered in the
series include an ex-NFL player who helps train wounded veterans, a college
student who created a Web program to limit food waste, and residents of
Baldwin, Mich., who raised money to provide a college scholarship for every
student in the community.
The series is essentially a hyper-realized form of
sponsored content. Starbucks is intimately tied to the production, though the
series has nothing to do with coffee and doesn’t feature the company at all.
The halo effect from financing, promoting, and distributing the series accrues
to Starbucks’ brand.
In this instance, Starbucks has a direct
relationship with its customers and exerts a high level of control over the
user experience. The company has expertise in distribution, physical
infrastructure (via its nearly 24,000 stores), and terabytes of customer
insight. Chandrasekaran brings the content expertise. Starbucks has the status
and authority to create content that results in compelling user experiences.
The idea of collaborating on “Upstanders”
came about after Schultz and Chandrasekaran coauthored the book For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can
Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and Sacrifice.
If everyone who views an “Upstanders” video is motivated
to do the same, then Starbucks has created a virtuous cycle of content,
consumer data, and purchase behavior that it can replicate and optimize in its
media offerings for years to come. And that’s likely to be more valuable for
its long-term growth than a 30-second television ad for pumpkin spice lattes.
Peter Lauria
http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/A-Java-Based-Media-Platform?gko=11df7&utm_source=itw&utm_medium=20161018&utm_campaign=resp
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