Display & Design Ideas - June 2009 - (Page 36)

36 | Marketing & Branding “It’s not just coffee” Starbucks focuses on product quality and corporate values with its new in-store and media campaign By Eleftheria Parpis Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks Corp. fter years of allowing fast-food competitors to take potshots at its high-priced coffee, traditionally advertising-shy Starbucks Corp., Seattle, is ﬁghting back with an ad campaign that reminds consumers: “It’s not just coffee. It’s Starbucks.” “The coffee world is getting increasingly crowded and competitive, and there is a conversation about coffee that is being had and we have not been a part of it,” says Terry Davenport, CMO of Starbucks. “There are many things we do—from the quality of our coffee to the values we have as a company—that are very relevant.” The current economic environment and the shift in consumer behavior from conspicuous consumption to “considered consumption” provides Starbucks with a well-timed opportunity for telling its larger brand story, Davenport adds. “When we come out of this, consumers will fundamentally be in a different place,” he says. “They are looking harder at the brands they buy and want to do business with people who are like-minded. Some of the very things that consumers are looking for have been what we’re doing. We feel we’ve got tremendous stories we can go out there and tell.” Created by New York-based advertising agency BBDO Worldwide, the “Coffee Value and Values” campaign began in May. “Starbucks made its name as a humble, modest company, and its values haven’t changed,” says David Lubars, the agency’s North American CCO. He stresses the “soulness” of the company and its practices, from its partnerships with fair-trade farmers to the fact that it offers healthcare beneﬁts to part-time employees. “We are not in the cheap coffee business,” Lubars says. “We are in the incredible coffee business that is of good value.” The new Starbucks campaign kicks off with print and out-of-home, and will later extend to instore and online initiatives. “Beware of a cheaper cup of coffee,” warns one ad fashioned to look like a burlap coffee-bean bag. “It comes with a price.” Other ads encourage consumers to “Pour your heart into it,” and declare: “Starbucks or nothing. Because compromise leaves a really bad aftertaste.” The company also launched an employee outreach effort in May that will take the communications program in-store. Starbucks will highlight a different company fact each day using a new online tool called “Did You Know?” (Example: it buys more Fair Trade coffee than any company in the world.) This will allow employees—or baristas, as they are called—to pass the information on to their customers. —Eleftheria Parpis is a department editor/ creative for Adweek. A An ad from Starbucks’ new campaign, which kicks off with print and out-of-home. To download the complete Marketing & Branding Super Section, visit www.ddimagazine.com/specialreports. | June 2009 www.ddimagazine.com http://www.ddimagazine.com/specialreports http://www.ddimagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Display & Design Ideas - June 2009

Display & Design Ideas - June 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Consumer Insights
Quick Tips
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Marketing & Branding Super Section
Channel Focus: Cosmetics/Beauty
Liz Claiborne
Shopper Insights
Logos: Then & Now
Starbucks
POP Products
T&T
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

Display & Design Ideas - June 2009